Why did this Boeing 737 CRASH into a bridge, just after takeoff?! | Air Florida flight 90 

Your level of production is incredible, it looks like to me to be watching a National Geographic documentary. I'm sure a lot of good will come out for you, following these investigative / forensic works. In a single stroke you have smashed all other aeronautical investigation channels on RU-vid. Bravo.

Please don't forget Lenny Skutnik. The bystander who threw off his clothes and dove into the river to help. Not a fireman, not crew, not helicopter personnel; an employee of the budget office who saved the life of Priscilla Tirado. ♥

"We're going down Larry" is probably the saddest "I told you so" ever...

I feel so sad for the first officer. Unlike other first officer who didn’t speak up before the accident happened, he has actually repeatedly raised his doubt and told the captain it is NOT right, but the captain just wouldn’t listen. He probably had seen this coming but just couldn’t save his own life and the whole aircraft. “We are going down, Larry.” Probably the most helpless and devastated last words I’ve heard.

Of the 5 passengers who escaped the plane, only 4 survived. The fifth man, Arland Dean Williams, Jr., repeatedly handed over the life ring dropped by the helicopter to his fellow passengers. When the helicopter came back for him, he had slipped beneath the water. Before his name was known, he was memorialized in a Time magazine essay by Roger Rosenblatt entitled, "The Man in the Water." It's a moving piece and well worth the read. The 14th Street Bridge was later renamed in Williams' honor.

When flying out of Ottawa, Canada, Freezing cold, ice on ground. We were all boarded. "Cabin crew prepare for departure" I looked out of my window and saw that the wings were white and covered with snow. I immediately called the Steward and said that the wings were iced up, Please inform the Captain. Did all of this quietly. Next thing that happens is Pilot comes back and looks out. He spoke to me quietly and said Don't worry it will blow off as we go down the runway. I wasn't happy. The captain returned to his Cabin. About 5 minutes later an announcement was made "This is your captain speaking, Our departure will be delayed for about 50 mins whilst de-icing is conducted. Thank you." Moral of the Story. If you see anything suspicious always inform the Cabin crew.

It's not the last mistake that kills you, it's the 5 mistakes before.

I appreciate your level of detail. My father was killed on this flight and over the years I have learned as much as I can as I was very young at the time. This flight changed not only de-icing protocols, but also those of communication between the first officer and the pilot. IN fact, their back and forth was used as an example in a sociology class to illustrate when people talk around what they really want to say. The amount of human error from the pilots to the calls made from flight tower were and, still are, astounding. For those in the area, I believe they are trying to do a new dedication of the bridge this summer as this was the 40th anniversary of the crash. Thank you for your hard work!

I was a flight Attendant from Air Florida. Even now this accident makes me cry. Knew the crew very well. RIP Larry, Roger, Marylynn,Donna. One flight Attendant survived the accident Kelly

The delays caused by deicing may be annoying, but it's a whole lot better than being dead.

I hate when the first officers are scared and feel intimdated by the captain and dont call out the mistakes...

This was a heartbreaking crash. The man who gave up his life to hypothermia to let others get out of the water before him. May his memory continue to be a blessing.

Crazy how fast that happens in real time. Watching a 45 minute video you forget that a few seconds is incredibly fast in that cockpit

The bridge is now named after Arland Williams the man who kept passing the rope to other passengers

I studied this crash when I worked for Delta Airlines and again when I was at Purdue. It's the reason why we have the modern deicing procedures that we use today. To this day they still show raw footage and documentaries of this crash to everyone who goes through deicing training. So the next time you're flying in the winter, and you see those ramp agents spraying your plane down, be sure to thank them for doing a thorough job because this flight is fresh on their minds and they don't want to be responsible for your plane going down like this.

I’m an old guy and a private pilot. I used to fly commercially a lot in the early 1980’s. I remember that the 727 pulled back from the gates at Denver Stapleton and got de-iced. We then waited a long time for clearance to takeoff. At some point we were told that we were cleared to taxi but had not started rolling. It was snowing heavily and the wings were blanketed with snow again. I pressed the call button and told the flight attendant that the FO should get a look at the wings before we take off. He actually came back, looked at them, said thanks and headed back. The Captain made an announcement that we were going to get de-iced again and then depart and apologized for the extra delay. It was an uneventful flight.

My cousin lost her life on the bridge during this accident. I was 3 months old, my Mom worked in a federal building within walking distance on the DC side, my Dad was a Dc Police officer and responded. I HATE flying out of Regan, I live closer to BWI, and hardly ever leave outta Regan. This story is close to my heart because of the way it effected my family.

That day, I'd left work early, as had the majority of people that day. An hour and 45 minutes later I had just made it to a junction that normally would have taken me 15 minutes to reach. I was cold, my feet wet, and I was frazzled by the difficult driving conditions. At this junction was a hotel that had a restaurant. I pulled into the lot, parked, and went into the restaurant. This place was known to have good coffee, and I sure needed a cup. This restaurant was popular with the police (you know, because of the coffee). It was right off of the interstate (I-95). I saw 3 state highway patrol cars, 2 marked county cars, and 3 unmarked county cars in the lot when I parked. I went in, sat down, ordered my coffee. Other than the staff, the only people in the place was about a dozen cops and myself. The cops were sitting at two tables and all of their portable radios were on the tables. Within 5 minutes of when I sat down, the radio traffic blew up. I heard the call of aircraft in the river. I moved to a table next to the cops so I could hear better. Where we were, was too far away for these cops to respond. One of the officers asked the manager to turn on the TV. About that time, a radio call stated that the plane had hit the bridge and there were fatalities on the bridge. About that time the news broke in on the TV. The images showed some survivors trying to swim through the shattered ice. A good portion of the planes tail was visible above the water. A park service helicopter was hovering very close to the water, trying to pluck one of the survivors out of the water. An onlooker jumped into the water and saved a passenger that was flailing hopelessly in the water. Turns out, the survivors were basically blind because of the jet fuel on the surface of the water. It had got in their eyes. One of the passengers drowned and went under, on live TV. After they had rescued the few that made it out of the plane, the news cut to the camera crews on the bridge. One of the images was of a sedan, it's roof flattened down to where it was a flat plane from the cars hood to the trunk. The top of the windshield frame was down on the dashboard. Sticking out from under the roof, out over the dashboard, was a bloodied arm, wearing a glove. I remember all of this as if it happened just last week. My dad had worked for an airline since about a week after I was born. I've flown in and out of that airport 75 to 100 times, from the mid 60's through the early 80's. After this accident, I only flew out of that airport another 4 or 5 times. I'm a bit of a plane nerd, I always choose to sit by the left, overwing emergency exit. I'm 6' 6" and this seat had the best leg room (B727-200). I chose the left side because the plane starts a long, sweeping, turn to the left immediately after liftoff. The view of the city is spectacular, but everytime I saw that bridge pass below the wingtip, I said a silent prayer in remembrance of those whose life ended there that cold, snowy, tragic day. I'm glad that this accident prompted a better understanding of the hazards of winter operations. A number of important safety regulations were put in place. Pilot training and operational procedures were improved as a direct result of this accident. However, it was too high a price to pay. Because of people that I knew, through my father, I was able to follow the investigation closer than the general public. I got to hear the CVR about 2 weeks after the crash. I had heard a few other CVRs, and it is always a sobering experience to hear the last moments of somebody's life ending so violently. The thing that bothered me most about this one, was the captain's attitude and incompetence. Within 3 or 4 seconds of beginning the takeoff roll, the captain noticed and commented on the erroneous readings. From that moment on, the FO knew things were very wrong. He kept pointing things out, but the captain never flinched. He just continued narrating and commenting on the disaster as it unfolded. I still don't know if that FO had the authority the abort the takeoff or not. I know that now, he would. I understand that ATC had issued, "Takeoff without delay", and this added urgency to the mix. The captain had already made too many mistakes though. I believe, that even without the "no delay" clearance, that captain would have still made the same decisions. He was too focused on getting out of that snow, and back home to the warmth and sunshine of Fort Lauderdale. That FO was, without a doubt, the more qualified pilot on that flight deck. It's a shame that his life and career, were cut short because of an inferior, superior officer. Not to discount all the other lives he ended that day.

The actual recording where he says “we’re going down, Larry” and he yells back “I KNOW!” is... haunting. It made my stomach drop. Maybe it’s the loss of composure (because pilots are almost always unreasonably chill in most recordings/communications) but it was so... human... desperate, irate, and terrified...

I'll never forget this crash. I was flying the same day from Pittsburgh to Phoenix, going back to ASU for the start of my senior spring semester in college. The snow at Pittsburgh airport was so bad and so heavy, I said to myself, "a flight is going to crash today, I sure hope it's not the one I'm on." I know that sounds outrageous & dramatic, but that's exactly how heavy the snow was that day. I remember my US Airways plane being de-iced right before takeoff. Got back to Phoenix safely, and later heard about this plane crashing, and felt sick. I never forgot this terrible event, never forgot flight 90, and never forgot how bad that snow storm was that day 41+ years ago.

Years ago, departing from Ottawa, Canada, I pointed out crystallised snow on the wings before takeoff to a flight attendant. She relayed this to the flight crew, and then came back and told me the captain was aware, and deemed it fine, but because I'd expressed doubt, they now had to go to de-icing before takeoff. At the time, I felt bad that I had caused what was probably an unnecessary delay and was now the flight and cabin crews least favourite passenger.... After watching this, maybe it was a good thing I'd pointed this out.... Who knows. Always better late than dead though....

So sad that the first officer was skeptical the whole time to only find out he was right so horrifically. I bet he couldn't even comprehend it was actually happening in those final few moments.

My brother in law was on that flight. I have had a very hard time overcoming the terror of flying that was caused by this crash. I think of him and all of the people who didn't have to die that day. I'm glad to know that his death wasn't in vain.

I remember this crash, and especially the man who survived and was hanging onto the ice in the freezing river, but repeatedly passed the rescue ring from the chopper to several of his fellow passengers, but went under before he could be saved.

This video was excellent detailing why Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and the tragic errors that these pilots made. My brother was in his vehicle on his way home from work from Arlington Cemetery where he worked as a mechanic. Sadly he did not survive. He was one of the four in their vehicles that died at the scene. I remember this day so vividly and this happened 40 years ago. We live in South Carolina, but watched scenes all day on television of this tragedy not knowing that my brother was one of the victims until later that night. It was devastating to our family and friends. He was only 27 years old. My heart goes out to all those who lost loved ones on this horrific day 40 years ago on January 13, 1982 due to the negligence of the pilot and de-icing crew.

I just feel so bad for the co pilot. He knew this wasn't right and you can hear it in the last transmission that the captain regrets all of it.

Just 30 minutes after the crash, a Metro subway train derailed in DC and passengers on board were trapped for hours due to nearly all resources devoted to Flight 90. The train derailment itself would cause 3 fatalities. It was just all around a bad day for the DC/Fairfax area.

The simulation at the end really drives home just how fast everything happened! RIP passengers and crew of Air Florida Flight 90. 😢

15:40 Also, aircraft exhaust contains A LOT of water. In fact, when you burn aviation fuel, you end up with a bigger volume of H2O than you had fuel to begin with. This is partially why they often leave such huge trails of vapour in the sky. You don't want all that wet air in your face in winter.

The simulations always put into perspective just how little time there is in these situations

A coworker had a parent in a car on the bridge. He said his dad threw himself down in the seat when he heard the roar, looked over and saw the plane filling the passenger side window. After it hit, he and others ran to see if they could help those in cars the airplane struck, but they were killed instantly. He always told his son that if it had ripped open the fuel tanks when it hit the bridge, there would have been many more deaths on the bridge, as well killing all of those in the water. His dad had nightmares about that day for years afterwards. And he would never fly in snowy weather. His son was a baby at the time, and found out about it when his dad explained why they were never going to fly to anywhere to go skiing.

It absolutely blows my mind that in those weather conditions, even ignoring the rest of it, the captain said specifically not to use engine anti-ice. It's an absolutely crazy decision. Short of actually wanting this all to happen, I can't fathom it.

It was my first day on the job at a video store in DC. As the events unfolded I watched in real time the 5 30” big screen TVs. Folks forget, but at the same time a subway train with no functioning brakes, crashed full speed at its last stop with deadly results. The entire city was shut down and in a state of shock. This all happened just after DC let folks leave early due to the raging blizzard. The only thing that helped the sorrow of that day was watching the incredible courage of individuals risking and giving their lives for others. It gave light to darkness. Thought you’d like to hear this. You have a brilliant show. Thanks for the truth.

We obviously learned A LOT from this, at least one pilot certainly did. It may have kept me from a similar fate. I remember being on a flight out of O'Hare (ORD) in the late eighties in the snow. We deiced but our push back was delayed. We deiced again. Then it took too long to get to the runway so we had to return and deice again. On the take off roll the captain noticed that the "engine performance" (that's all he said in the PA announcement) was "within specs, but less than normal" so he rejected the take off. After a few run ups off the engines on a taxiway we went back to the gate. The captain had a conversation with a very agitated mechanic, who made some adjustment at the rear of the cabin with the captain monitoring his actions. The captain signals his satisfaction with the change and as you have probably guessed, we had to deice again. This time we take off and shortly after takeoff the captain gives another PA. He tells us that although we are now 3.5 hours late, it was the right call to insure everything was correct. The airport is now closed and the flight ahead of us had struggled to climb and barely cleared the buildings in its flight path. If I could only have always flown with that captain, three hours late and all. :^)

My father was working for the fire department then. He went on this call, driving the Dive Team's SCUBA gear to the scene. He said so many other things went wrong and so many miracles happened all at the same time. Major issue was many outside needed resources was unable to get to the scene due to severe congestion. Did you know that here was also a derailed passenger subway train in DC at the same time? Both incidents quickly absorbed all reginal resources. My father has the actual dispatch communication recordings of these incidents. Incredible to listen to and to imagine situation.

You should be a NTSB or their counterpart in your jurisdiction investigator when you hang up your wings and can't or don't wish to captain a commercial airliner anymore. I don't see that happening for a very long time. You're right up there with Sully. You explain what happened that us layman can understand and process the data and facts of an accident or event. This type of commentary and reporting also helps to bring closure to what happened to the families and friends of the deceased who were victims of these accidents. You're doing the world a great service with this commentary so people understand aviation and how the safety is constantly being improved.

I vividly remember watching this rescue operation unfold on TV. So many years ago, and I can still see it play out in my head. The heroic gentleman in that cold water, who kept giving the lifeline to someone else, each time the helicopter returned. It broke my heart that he eventually succumbed. He let others live, at the expense of his own life.

"stalling, we're falling.' "Larry, we're going down Larry" "I KNOW" As someone who wants to be a pilot... That was jarring to listen to. Truly amazing work on this production!

My mother, on the way home from her job with Eastern Air Lines, crossed the 14th Street Bridge minutes before it was hit by flight 90. She was very lucky.

My college roommate's father died in this accident. I appreciate your reverence with crashes, especially this one seems so senseless today. The hardest part was that people survived and he had no idea for days whether his dad lived or died during that time (pre-cell phone/internet communications). We all appreciate the learning from this so it never happens again.

A few years ago, I flew out of Minneapolis-St Paul during a snow storm. The airport had the de-icing equipment right before the hammerhead on both sides of the taxiway and every departing aircraft went through it like a car wash, right before departure. It seemed very efficient.

RIP Arland Williams. This planet deserves more people like you.

I am an aerodynamic engineer working on jet engines. I have discovered your channel recently and I have been binge watching your videos every day. I learned a lot while enjoying watching them. Excellent content and high quality. Best Aviation RU-vid channel. Thank you :)

My father was on the very next plane that was scheduled to land at national airport when flight 90 hit the bridge. They aborted the landing and diverted to Baltimore at the last minute. There was a massive snowstorm blanket in the entire area, and my dad ended up renting a car to get home, which took him more than 12 hours. There is no way that airport should’ve been open that day.

Our instructor back in the 80’s on the 737 told us, never hit the ground without putting the thrust levers to the firewall. He said if this crew had done that even in the last few seconds it would have allowed the airplane to clear the second bridge.

I was there. Flying Eastern 1491. We had held for 2+40 trying to get in. We had fuel left for one approach. Palm 90 was cleared for takeoff when we were at 800 ft on the ILS. I remarked "this is going to be close" and considered we might get an ATC directed go around. The NTSB timeline showed that we touched down 6 seconds before Palm 90 left the runway. NTSB subpoenaed our statements regarding conditions at DCA.

Oh boy how much Winter Ops have changed since then! This explains the never ending training, presentations and exams we get to go through every year. Thanks for the informative video.

My father was on the same plane, with the same crew, on their previous flight. I had just joined the army and ridden in an airplane for the first time a few days before. It had quite an emotional impact on me.

This particular accident is what initially got me into Aviation disaster investigations. It’s really a saddening incident, especially with the Black box audio being very haunting to listen to 😢

Larry Skusnick was the hero who dived into the icy water to save the women who could not hold on to the life-saving tube and therefore saved her life. God bless him!

I was there. My hotel room looked straight at the bridge 7 floors up. I didn't see it happen. The whole week I was there the tail stuck out of the ice. Extremely well done video, I now have real understanding of what happened. Arland D. Williams was a true hero.

I remember this crash vividly as a 10 year old kid in 1980s, I was due to fly from Jacksonville, Fl. to Miami,Fl. on this exact airline & was terrified because of this crash & all the tv coverage of the crash & rescue efforts. I always thought because the pilot & plane were from Florida, maybe he didnt know how to fly in Snow (10 year old brain thinking). Turns out this was actually not too far from the truth with him only having a couple flights in these conditions. Thanks for the video.

Can’t imagine anything worse than knowing you’re in danger and knowing you can do something to avoid it but not being able too because of the chain of command and having to defer to the pilot/captain

I love how they do winter ops in places like Helsinki (HEL). I once flew (as a pax) HEL-MAN during winter. It was actually my first time as a pax experiencing heavy snow and ice while on an airplane (it was E190, Finnair). I had a window seat. I could see the wings were absolutely covered in layers of thick snow. We pushed back with all the ice and snow still on the wings and began the long taxi to the runway. I was staring at the wings all this time. We joined the line for takeoff. Our plane went forward and Im still staring at these wings. And then the plane stopped in this holding area just before the runway. Like a Formula 1 pit stop team the deice trucks surrounded us, lights flashing. They blasted the plane clean until nothing remained. No wasting time. The flaps came down, we lined up and blasted into the night sky. Brilliant operation that eliminates this need for taxying back to the terminal. It remains my only experience of airline winter ops. This tragic accident made me think of my experience and how a setup like that would have saved this jet. Great work as always in your content Captain.

never let pressure push the boundaries of safety.... your life is worth more than than pressure to make someone richer than they already are....

I haven't heard of all these incidents, but this is one I remember from when it happened. One thing you need to remember about icing is that not only does it disrupt lift but in the worst cases it can add tons of weight in bad places.

It's amazing how many times life throws you hints that you are about to make a horrible mistake and those warnings go unheeded.

I remember the day of this accident vividly. I was 11 years old in Alexandria, VA, and they closed school that day. The snow was the nice packy kind perfect for snow forts and snowball fights, which of course is what we did all day. Late in the day we came in and had hot chocolate. Later still I found out our neighbor across the street had lost her husband in the crash, and his secretary was also involved in the metro derailment that happened the same day, adding to the horror and confusion for our neighbor. As the news unfolded in the days and weeks after the accident, the biggest story was a bystander who helped rescue several people, but from what I remember the only real reporting was about the insufficient de-icing and long delays getting out, not about the engine thrust problems. (but I was 11, so take that with a grain of salt). Since a young age I've been interested in aviation, and I earned my private & instrument ratings in 2006. I really enjoy your videos, especially the accident analysis. Thank you!

This one was haunting. I still remember being home from school that day, I was either sick or had a snow day. There was a local news van out driving to cover the snowstorm, which was sitting in traffic waiting to cross the bridge when the plane hit. So within 5 minutes of the plane hitting the river there was live tv coverage of the event and the rather gripping helicopter rescue. Highly unusual at the time.

Your superb video enlightened me on details I have wondered about since that day. I was a passenger on the simultaneous DC Metro derailment. It was surreal. After eventually making it to safety, I did not immediately know about the Air Florida 90 crash. I remember walking towards the Washington Monument in a daze. The snow was falling so heavily, traffic clogged, no noise except lots of sirens. The flashing blue and red lights from every direction were making the low clouds eerily glow. I don't even remember how I got home to Arlington VA nor how long it took. That day as well as a couple of events (missing being a suicide bomber victim by 30 seconds, surviving cancer 3 times and more) changed me for the better. I live every day with gratitude, empathy, an open heart and mind.

I'll never forget that day. I was a student at the nearby University of Maryland. We were in our room between class and dinner when this happened. There was also a fatal crash on the DC Metro subway system about the same time.

I recently had a flight delayed 2 hours because of the luggage car stuck in the snow, and then de-icing the plane... Was annoyed at the time, but this is now eye-opening. Sending my gratitude to the de-icing crew that I got home safely after all

I was 8 years old in 1982. This is the earliest aircraft accident that I can remember. It was all over the news. My parents had a magazine, with an illustration of the aircraft flying low in the snow, over an iced river. It horrified me, the idea of plummeting into the ice.

I just Googled Arland Dean Williams, Jr.. He was afraid of water yet gave his life so others could live. He was a truly amazing man and the very definition of a hero. May he and the other souls who perished rest in peace.

What makes the response of fire rescue crews even more incredible is the fact that they were already dealing with one of the largest emergency incidents of the Metro system at the exact same time. DCFD did an amazing job as did Eagle 1 of the US Park Police.

That hot air coming out of an engine has a huge amount of water vapor in it... It is not *dry* air.

Nice job on this video! There's one aspect of this accident that the NTSB apparently missed that those of us who had encountered Capt Wheaton in his earlier days were well aware of; he could be a cocky, arrogant bastard. I flew with him once when he instructed briefly at the Navy Flying Club, and it was the most abusive flying lesson I ever survived. He went on to fly most of the 1970s with Air Sunshine, a Florida Keys based DC3 and CV240 operator which eventually merged into Air Florida. Air Sunshine flew big radials designed for 115/145 octane gas on the only available avgas, 100 Low Lead, in a hot climate, which made Manifold Pressure the single power parameter, with detonation and catastrophic failure lurking one inch beyond the MAP limit. Hot temps and elevated density altitudes combined with fuel-imposed reduced MAP limits and heavy pax loads made takeoffs a little dicey most of the time. So under stress it's easy to visualize him clinging to the calculated EPR as an inviolable limit. His FO didn't challenge him aggressively about the anamolous engine indications, as he'd likely already been browbeaten into submission on this trip sequence. As an F15 Eagle alumnus, he certainly knew that when TSHTF you cook the engines if you have to and live to fly another day. I suspect he'd been reduced to passive mode by Larry's overbearing demeanor. An over temp on a JT8 is not as drastic as detonation induced catastrophic failure of an R1830 or an R2800. He could have pushed the thrust levers up til the N1s and EGTs looked right and saved the day. Why didn't he? THE CAPTAIN IS GOD! A suggestion for a future episode: the crash of an Air New England Twin Otter at Hyannis, MA in 1979. That and this accident and a couple others started the process of instituting Cockpit Resource Management into aviation in the US. (Behind Europe, as usual.) I think that string of accidents would make a good series for this channel. Keep up the good work!

The second I heard the discussion regarding de-icing their aircraft using the exhaust from the dc-9 I threw out my thoughts regarding the de-ice crew switching up their composition. For one, the exhaust blast is going to strip away any de-icing that was put on to the aircraft, only increasing the chance of a compromised airfoil profile. Secondly, I’m a snowmaker for a major ski resort, have been for the last 7 years. I work with snow and ice for a living, so I know how it reacts in differing conditions. Hot exhaust also contains water vapors, the second those vapors are exposed to the elements, they’re GOING to freeze. Anybody who has a basic understanding of aerodynamics should know how essential keeping the intended airfoil is for proper lift. This captain set his plane up for disaster.

I'm a newer subscriber and I first off want to tell you how much I love this channel. I'm retired now but for almost 3 decades I was a Fire Department Lieutenant / Paramedic. The news footage of the rescue after this crash I've seen several times. We use it in our annual Ice rescue curriculum as it is a good video on the loss of dexterity after experiencing hypothermia. I've never heard the full story before and you're presentation was well done as always. What happened here left me shifting between sad and angry. Moreover angry. THIS DIDN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN! "Predictable is Preventable" as the quote goes. Some bad luck yes but predominantly time pressure, peer pressure, complacency, ego, ignorance, lack of training/experience, bad decision making, confirmation bias and just male macho blindness. I'm not a pilot but I'm an aviation nut and I'm intrigued by decision making and psychology...especially during stress. I had standing orders and stayed within those parameters consistently because lives where in the equation. I also often had to make split second decisions because I arrived in the middle of something bad with 10% information. Again...the decision had to be spot on. The first 5 minutes set the stage for the whole scenario. I know in my heart this is a rare situation and I know...hope....when I'm sitting back in 24A that they have thier act together. I really respect and admire pilots. Especially military and commercial pilots. The training, decisions and performance need to be top notch....every time. I really appreciate your presentations. The information, editing, sound and final product is always top notch.

Damn! The quality of the content is so damn good. This over netflix, anytime. Amazing job!

I am a Flight Attendant based in Miami. Whenever I fly there I think of this accident. So sad. RIP to all Paxs and crew. Great job you did. Very well done.

As an old man and a golfer, I know that learning is usually from mistakes. Unfortunately, in the case of air travel, these mistakes almost always include loss of life. Your videos are some the most informative, unbiased and well done that I have EVER seen. I learn sooooo much from watching!!!!

I like when you cover cases that were discussed when I took flight school in the 80s. In this one, like the others, you have more information and deeper coverage than our instructor. It was one of the many cases where the instructor pointed out that the first officer (then co pilot) had spoken up about things they had seen wrong but were over ridden by the captain.

I remember when this happened. My mom was listening to the radio and they broke into programming with the news report. My dad was there on business at the time and flew out the next day while they were still pulling bodies out. He said he had never experienced a takeoff in which everyone in the cabin was SILENT.

There were some really spectacular bystander heroics in this accident. One of them jumped into the river and swam around the ice to save a passenger. Incredible video.

That flight recording was utterly terrifying, how quickly the event happened. God rest those poor souls. Grateful to those who helped recover and save the survivors. 💖

As a friend & Boeing test pilot used to say, this accident was caused by "a short between the headsets"! But it changed everything in the industry with regard to takeoffs and handling of ground-icing conditions.

I really like the scientific approach to this. The fact that the First Officer even says something like: "I think this is giving us a false sense of security", is really astonishing. That is something that people are so likely to ignore. So often you see that people choose to believe in speculative ideas simply because they want them to be true. It is so easy and so tempting to fully commit to an idea you're having. You see that even in science. The same approach you need in science you seem to need as a pilot. Fascinating!

I was a teenager living in the region when that accident happened. Walked the other bridge the day they pulled the empennage out of the water. I'll never forget seeing the stacked coffins and big hole in the ice.

Did you notice the red and green cushions he has are the representation of the red and green lights on plane wings. What an avid aviator🥺

I remember watching this live on the telly. The state park helicopter crew deserve massive respect for their actions, as did the few who went into the water, genuinely risking their own life, to save the few who survived.

This is one of those times where I'm internally screaming at them to "stop for just a minute and think!!!" knowing what the outcome is. It's like rewatching Challenger, knowing what's coming, knowing it could have been avoided, and indeed, should have been avoided.

My now 30 yr old childhood best friend lost both his parents on this "finally retiring" trip. Sad.

8:09 - That's the best continuity error due to changed hair response ever! The subtlety of it makes it pure gold! :D

How sobering. And gratifying to know that every crash yields knowledge of safety for future flights. Thank you, Petter.

Tragic. I was living nearby. This video was not just a RU-vid piece. It was an excellently produced Documentary

I was in DCA that day. I was a first officer on a B-737 for Piedmont Airlines. We departed a couple of hours before Air Florida and learned about the crash when we arrived in ATL later that day. A week later I was back in DCA and was told that the aircraft was in a hangar on the other side of the field and could probably get to see it if I went over.. I hitched a ride from one of the ramp agents and got in the hangar without any difficulty which shows you how different things were back then. Also being in uniform helped. As I was standing behind one of the ropes that kept visitors away from the various parts a NTSB inspector came over to me and asked if I flew the 737. I responded in the affirmative and he walked me over to the forward cabin section and towards the cockpit. One of the things I first noticed was that the overhead bins looked like there was still ice in them. When we got to the cockpit I saw the windshields were all opaque and the control yokes were twisted as if acted upon by some tremendous force. The seats were also shifted from there tracks. The inspector then brought my attention to the overhead panel and pointed to the two engine ant-ice switches. They were in the off position and he said that this is where they were focusing their attention. The day of the crash when we departed DCA the snow was coming down pretty good and we were de-ice with type-1 fluid which was the standard at the time. There were no Hold Over Times(HOT) back then and your decision to depart was based on judgement that was derived from experience. The captains I flew with back then had years of experience in those conditions and also had a pretty good idea as to when it was time to return to the gate for more de-icing. It’s a heart break to think that if just one of them had fire walled the thrust levers they might have pulled out of it.

That CVR recording always breaks my heart

What foolish the maintenance crew was and how pathetically inconsiderate the Captain was for neglecting the obvious red flags.

I have seen many recreations and presentations of this accident, but none of those compare to the quality of what I just watched. Thanks Peter for doing this one and keep them coming! 🛫 Blue skies my friend!

Nothing tells how unbelievable fast things go south in these stories than the simulation with the voice recording at the end. When you tell and dissect the events it always sound like soooo much time to think and consider all the information and you start asking yourself, how could the pilots miss this or that. And than you realize how little chance to think there is. Thanks for showing that point.

Rip to the people who lost their lives my thoughts are with the families x ❤️

We covered this accident in my new entrant cabin crew training (as I expect everyone does learning about winter ops), and the clip of the rescue, with the poor woman blinded by jet fuel and panicking, was probably the most traumatic video of all the ones we saw in those few weeks. I didn't know the full story from the pilot angle besides the fact they were de-iced too far before their actual take-off. I had to pause this video before the end because I really couldn't bear to listen to the voice recordings. So grateful to work alongside such professional, safety-conscious pilots with a CRM environment where this is almost unimaginable.

I was there when this happened, it was one of the worst snow storms for the city. This was also a very wet snow. I was one of the people that had emergency experience and a well equipped 4x4. It was horrific being on the shore. One of my tasks was driving nurses and doctors to the hospitals, very few people had vehicles that could move around. When this crash happened visibility was less than 1000 ft.

It really didn't hit me until I watched the simulation with Audio at the end, just *exactly* how fast things moved. When you had been recounting the accident yourself, it seemed like they had enough time to recover even after the FO went "we're going down, Larry". I didn't realize that it was already basically over.

I've been a de ice tech at YOW in Ottawa Canada. We know winter. Our Brix settings. Fluid strength are set at start of shift and not changed. It would take a radical temp shift to justify. We also require a bare hand tactile inspection of leading edges. And if there is active precip, a green type 4 anti icing fluid is applied after deicing. This shears off at takeoff speeds.

When I was a student my instructor used to say - I'd rather be a day late than 30 years early. So many mistakes. I knew a NASA accident inspector. He used to tell me that it's never just one thing that kills you. It's always at least two, often at least three. That was true for Challenger, others and here as well. I remember that day. A teacher that lived down the street from me was on that plane.

I was a 1st year law student in January, 1982. I lived in DC but had stayed with my then partner in Arlington, VA. He lived down I-395 which ran across the 14th street bridge into DC. School had not been called off despite the snow so we got in his car and were driving on I-395 when all traffic just stopped. We didn't know what had happened but e def up stuck on the highway for nearly 7 hours and we're worried about running out of gas and not being able to start the car so we'd freeze. We only found out what had happened from the radio but we were still stuck there for many hours. The other problem that day was the Metro system, which had opened for the Bicentennial several years earlier, had had a fatal accident that day so the whole system shut down. It was a miserable day for everyone in the DC Metro area, and of course we felt awful for those that lost their lives in the Air Florida crash and the Metro wreck and their loved ones. We couldn't get back into DC for 2 days because of the clean-up and rescue operations going on on the 3 main bridges from VA into DC. I'll never forget it.

Late to the party, but fun fact : My grandpa had just gotten off the bridge as the plane hit it. My dad saw the crash on the news, knew my grandpa had traveled over it at about that time for his commute, and panicked. Sad stuff, RIP to all those who lost their lives!

This one was harder to hear about than most of these that you've done, because it seems like there were so many red flags that didn't deter these pilots.