Air Florida Flight 90 was an Air Florida flight of a Boeing 737-200 airliner that crashed into the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. on January 13, 1982 immediately after takeoff in a severe snowstorm. The accident claimed the lives of 78 people, including four in cars on the 14th Street Bridge. However, a few survivors from the shattered aircraft were rescued from the icy river by a combination of heroic efforts of civilians and professionals. Some of that heroism was commended during President Ronald Reagan's State of the Union speech a few days later. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the accident was aircraft icing and the failure of the pilots to use all of their anti-icing equipment or abort the takeoff.
COPYRIGHT: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
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