Jan. 13, 1982: Air Florida Plane Crash Into The Potomac River, Wash. D.C. Area; 38 Yrs Ago

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Thu Jan 9, 2020, 08:19 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016245543

X-post.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. OMG. 38 years ago....

I remember it like it was yesterday (was trying to get home from DC to NoVa through that snowstorm -- via another bridge -- when that horrible tragedy happened.)

[appalachiablue]

2. Same here, remember it like yesterday. I was working p-t

and at home in NW DC, near AU. What bridge did you take from DC to Va.? Key Bridge, Chain Bridge?

[50 Shades Of Blue]

3. My carpool used the Roosevelt Bridge but prior to joining that carpool I'd

commuted by bus via the 14th Street Bridge so it seemed especially unreal! Remember three were people also killed in a Metro accident that same afternoon. I can't remember if the government was closed the next day (I was a Fed) but I know I stayed home!

[appalachiablue]

5. Yes the tragic Metro subway accident too, it's in the article. What

a horror, so lucky I was home that cold, snowy and tragic January day. Hell. But heroes like Joe Stiley, the helicopter pilots and Lennie Skutnik I'll always remember.



Bystander Lenny Skutnik dove in the water to try to rescue struggling passenger Priscilla Tirado.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

6. I'll always remember them too!

[elleng]

7. I was a Fed too, lived in SW DC and used to walk to work.

Neither do I recall whether govt was closed the next day.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

9. My guess is it was open - or at best had delayed opening/liberal leave.

[elleng]

4. WOW!

I remember it WELL, could almost see it from my apartment, in SW DC, toward which I walked from office @ 12th & Constitution.

[appalachiablue]

8. It was really something, Hell and misery although the brave

individuals who assisted with rescue were heroic.

Passenger Joe Stiley (in the videos) who survived was a businessman and also a pilot. He knew from the defective takeoff at National that the plane would likely crash. So he prepared and told others around him to prep for emergency. He was right!