The Crash of Air Florida Flight 90

On January 13, 1982, Washington, D.C. was experiencing of its worst blizzards ever. Schools, businesses and even Congress shut down early. By early afternoon, highways and subway systems were under intense pressure as an exodus was underway. National Airport was closed for most of the morning, but reopened at mid-afternoon.

Air Florida flight 90, a 737 to Fort Lauderdale with 79 people aboard, was de-iced and ready to push back from the gate about 3:23 p.m. with temperatures in the 20s and over two feet of snow on the ground. The pilots decided to use the planes reverse thruster to back away from the gate. This would prove to be a serious mistake, as snow was sucked into the engines. Palm 90 was number 16 for departure, and the pilots decided to let the hot exhaust from the planes in front of it on the taxiway melt the snow on the 737’s wings. It only pushed the snow to the trailing edge of the wings, where it refroze. Cockpit voice recorder tapes revealed that the crew neglected to turn the aircrafts anti-icing system on despite the snow falling.

The plane was cleared for takeoff, and as it rolled down Runway 36, First Officer Roger Pettit attempted to inform the Captain Larry Wheaton that something was wrong, but was ignored. The build up of ice on the wings was causing the 737 to pitch upwards immediately after rotation. The plane was in a stall, no longer climbing, but falling towards the ground as the crew struggled in vain to gain altitude. The plane came down directly on top of the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River where traffic was at a standstill due to the storm. Four automobiles on the bridge were crushed, killing 5 people on the ground. The aircraft crashed into the frozen river and sank in the icy waters. Only 5 people on the plane would survive.

The official cause of the crash was pilot error. When the pilots failed to activate the anti-icing systems, the snow in the engines caused compression instruments to read incorrectly, making the pilots think they had more power than they actually. The reduced power (about 70%) and ice covered wings caused the crash.

About one half hour after the crash, a Metro subway train derailed because of a misaligned switch and crashed into a concrete abutment, killed 3 people and injuring 25 others. Needless to say, the Washington transportation system was nearly paralyzed with National Airport and the 12 lanes leading from the city to Virginia closed along with the Blue and Orange lines of the Metro shut down.

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