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The miraculous escape by 300 some passengers from the crashed Airbus from France at the Toronto Airport today tickled a memory from...1982. The people today were remarkably lucky. The flight crew must have been astonishing.
But an Air Florida flight in 1982, leaving from Washington, D.C., was not so lucky. After waiting in sleety weather, the plane went to take off, without defrosting the wings. It crashed in the Potomac River, killing 4 of the 5 crew, and most of the passengers.
A remarkable story developed. Six folks were clinging to the tail section of the plane. When help finally arrived, safety lines were lowered, and one man kept passing it to others clinging to the plane fragment. When the helicopter went back, the sixth man had vanished.
The sixth man always haunted me. No one knew him at the time. Finally, his body was recovered. He was just a regular guy...but heroic.
Here's an edited version from one site I found. Enjoy one man's humanity:
At Washington National Airport, immediately across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., the airport had opened at 12 noon under marginal conditions. The crew of Air Florida Flight 90 had left Miami at 11:00 AM EST, and arrived at about 1:45 PM EST. Their scheduled departure time to return south was delayed about 1 hour 45 minutes due to a moderate to heavy snowfall, which necessitated the temporary closing of the airport. The airplane was de-iced, by spraying the wings with an antifreeze-type chemical mixture, but the airplane had trouble leaving the gate when the ground services tow motor couldn't get traction on the ice.
Delays, poor decisions, crash
After leaving the departure gate, the Boeing 737-222 aircraft waited on a taxiway 49 minutes for clearance to use the congested airport's only instrument-rated runway, which requires a treacherous flight path north following the river, and winding between restricted airspace and obstacles such as the Washington Monument and the Pentagon. Washington Monument
Then, with snow and ice on the airfoil surfaces of the aircraft, the aircraft attempted to take off from Washington National Airport in heavy snow at 3:59 PM EST. Even though it was freezing and snowing, the crew did not activate the anti-ice systems. This caused engine thrust indicators to provide falsely high readings, and the takeoff was attempted at only 71% thrust. The aircraft traveled almost 1/2 mile (800 m) further down the runway than is customary before liftoff was accomplished. However, although the aircraft did manage to become airborne, it failed to gain altitude. At 4:01 PM EST it crashed into the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac River 0.75 nautical mile (1400 m) from the end of the runway. It hit six cars and a truck on the bridge. It then plunged into the freezing Potomac River. All but the tail section quickly became submerged. C
As a result of injuries received during the crash, 4 of the 5 crew members and 69 of the 74 passengers perished, leaving only 6 survivors in the freezing water out of the 79 who had been aboard the aircraft. There were also four fatalities among the motorists on the bridge, with four others on the bridge injured.
Clinging to the tail section of the broken airliner with 5 passengers in the ice-choked Potomac River, flight attendant Kelly Duncan inflated the only flotation device they could find, and passed it to one of the more-injured passengers. Kelly Duncan was the youngest flight attendant on Air Florida Flight 90 which crashed moments after takeoff during severe cold weather conditions from Washington National Airport on January 13, 1982. ...
Hampered response, unlikely heroes
The blizzard conditions had happened fairly suddenly on this day, and many Federal Government offices in downtown Washington had just been closed early. Thus, there was a massive backup of traffic on almost all of the city's roads. The United States Coast Guard's Capstan (WYTL 65601) a 65-foot harbor tugboat and its crew based nearby whose duties include ice breaking and responding to such a water rescue were some considerable distance away downriver on another search-and-rescue mission. Emergency ground response was greatly hampered by ice covered roads and gridlocked traffic. Ambulances attempting to reach the scene were even driven down the sidewalk in front of the White House. Coast Guard shield The United States Coast Guard is the coast guard of the United States. ...
One man, Roger Olian, a sheet-metal foreman at St Elizabeth's, a Washington hospital for the mentally ill, was on his way home across the 14th Street bridge in his truck when he heard a man yelling that there was an aircraft in the water. He was the first to jump into the water to attempt to contact the survivors. Other motorists and civilian bystanders made a makeshift rope of battery cables, scarves, and anything else they could find to keep Olian from drowning. He remained in the water for about twenty minutes until a United States Park Service Police helicopter arrived, whereupon he was reeled back to shore by the others, while the helicopter crew focused on the crash victims clinging to the tail section of the plane.
The only rescue helicopter arrives
News cameramen watched helplessly from the bridge, being only able to record the disaster for the rest of the world to see. Suddenly hope arrived in the form of a park police helicopter, trailing a lifeline reaching to the outstretched arms of the victims in the water below. At approximately 4:20 PM EST, Eagle 1, a United States Park Police helicopter based at the "Eagles Nest" at Anacostia Park in Washington DC and manned by pilot Donald W. Usher and paramedic Melvin E. (Gene) Windsor arrived and assisted at great risk to themselves, at one time getting so close to the ice-clogged river that the helicopter's skids went beneath the surface of the water. As the helicopter crew lowered a line to the survivors for towing them to shore, one survivor, later identified as Arland D. Williams Jr., was still attached to part of the plane. He repeatedly passed the line to others, After lifting and towing two badly injured passengers to shore one at a time, when the helicopter returned, an attempt was made to use 2 lines to haul 3 more, and two fell back into the icy water. By then one of these was too weak to grab the line. A watching bystander, a government office assistant Lenny Skutnik, stripped off his coat and boots, and in short sleeves, dove into the icy water, and swam out to assist her. The helicopter then proceeded to where the other passengers had fallen, and paramedic Gene Windsor dropped from the safety of the helicopter into the water to attach a line to her. By the time the helicopter crew could return for Arland D. Williams Jr., the last survivor, both he and the airplane's tail section had disappeared beneath the icy surface. His body and those of the other occupants were later recovered.
According to the coroner, Williams who had passed the lifeline to others, was the only plane passenger to die by drowning. Donald W. Usher was a United States National Park Service police officer and helicopter pilot who acted heroically on January 13, 1982 following the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 in the Potomac River at Washington DC. A total of 78 persons were killed on that day of both tragedy...
..
News media outlets followed the story with diligence. Notably, the Washington Post newspaper published a story about the unidentified survivor of the impact who handed the lifeline to others and apparently drowned before he could be rescued himself. ...
"He was about 50 years old, one of half a dozen survivors clinging to twisted wreckage bobbing in the icy Potomac when the first helicopter arrived. To the copter's two-man Park Police crew he seemed the most alert. Life vests were dropped, then a flotation ball. The man passed them to the others. On two occasions, the crew recalled last night, he handed away a life line from the hovering machine that could have dragged him to safety. The helicopter crew - who rescued five people, the only persons who survived from the jetliner - lifted a woman to the riverbank, then dragged three more persons across the ice to safety. Then the life line saved a woman who was trying to swim away from the sinking wreckage, and the helicopter pilot, Donald W. Usher, returned to the scene, but the man was gone,"
source: "A Hero - Passenger Aids Others, Then Dies", The Washington Post, January 14, 1982.
Honoring heroism
The passenger who had survived the crash and had repeatedly given up the rescue lines to other survivors before drowning himself was later identified as a 46 year old bank examiner, Arland D. Williams Jr. The repaired 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River at the crash site, which had been officially named the "Rochambeau Bridge", was renamed the "Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge" in his honor. The Citadel in South Carolina, from which he graduated in 1957, has several memorials to him. In 2003, the new Arland D. Williams Jr. Elementary School was dedicated in his hometown of Mattoon in Coles County, Illinois. Arland D. Williams Jr. ... The 14th Street Bridge carries Interstate 395 and U.S. Highway 1 traffic across the Potomac River, connecting Arlington, Virginia and Washington DC. The bridge is also known for being the location of the Air Florida Flight 90 airplane crash on January 13, 1982. ... The Arland D. Williams Jr. ...
Passenger number 6. Helluva guy.
But an Air Florida flight in 1982, leaving from Washington, D.C., was not so lucky. After waiting in sleety weather, the plane went to take off, without defrosting the wings. It crashed in the Potomac River, killing 4 of the 5 crew, and most of the passengers.
A remarkable story developed. Six folks were clinging to the tail section of the plane. When help finally arrived, safety lines were lowered, and one man kept passing it to others clinging to the plane fragment. When the helicopter went back, the sixth man had vanished.
The sixth man always haunted me. No one knew him at the time. Finally, his body was recovered. He was just a regular guy...but heroic.
Here's an edited version from one site I found. Enjoy one man's humanity:
At Washington National Airport, immediately across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., the airport had opened at 12 noon under marginal conditions. The crew of Air Florida Flight 90 had left Miami at 11:00 AM EST, and arrived at about 1:45 PM EST. Their scheduled departure time to return south was delayed about 1 hour 45 minutes due to a moderate to heavy snowfall, which necessitated the temporary closing of the airport. The airplane was de-iced, by spraying the wings with an antifreeze-type chemical mixture, but the airplane had trouble leaving the gate when the ground services tow motor couldn't get traction on the ice.
Delays, poor decisions, crash
After leaving the departure gate, the Boeing 737-222 aircraft waited on a taxiway 49 minutes for clearance to use the congested airport's only instrument-rated runway, which requires a treacherous flight path north following the river, and winding between restricted airspace and obstacles such as the Washington Monument and the Pentagon. Washington Monument
Then, with snow and ice on the airfoil surfaces of the aircraft, the aircraft attempted to take off from Washington National Airport in heavy snow at 3:59 PM EST. Even though it was freezing and snowing, the crew did not activate the anti-ice systems. This caused engine thrust indicators to provide falsely high readings, and the takeoff was attempted at only 71% thrust. The aircraft traveled almost 1/2 mile (800 m) further down the runway than is customary before liftoff was accomplished. However, although the aircraft did manage to become airborne, it failed to gain altitude. At 4:01 PM EST it crashed into the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac River 0.75 nautical mile (1400 m) from the end of the runway. It hit six cars and a truck on the bridge. It then plunged into the freezing Potomac River. All but the tail section quickly became submerged. C
As a result of injuries received during the crash, 4 of the 5 crew members and 69 of the 74 passengers perished, leaving only 6 survivors in the freezing water out of the 79 who had been aboard the aircraft. There were also four fatalities among the motorists on the bridge, with four others on the bridge injured.
Clinging to the tail section of the broken airliner with 5 passengers in the ice-choked Potomac River, flight attendant Kelly Duncan inflated the only flotation device they could find, and passed it to one of the more-injured passengers. Kelly Duncan was the youngest flight attendant on Air Florida Flight 90 which crashed moments after takeoff during severe cold weather conditions from Washington National Airport on January 13, 1982. ...
Hampered response, unlikely heroes
The blizzard conditions had happened fairly suddenly on this day, and many Federal Government offices in downtown Washington had just been closed early. Thus, there was a massive backup of traffic on almost all of the city's roads. The United States Coast Guard's Capstan (WYTL 65601) a 65-foot harbor tugboat and its crew based nearby whose duties include ice breaking and responding to such a water rescue were some considerable distance away downriver on another search-and-rescue mission. Emergency ground response was greatly hampered by ice covered roads and gridlocked traffic. Ambulances attempting to reach the scene were even driven down the sidewalk in front of the White House. Coast Guard shield The United States Coast Guard is the coast guard of the United States. ...
One man, Roger Olian, a sheet-metal foreman at St Elizabeth's, a Washington hospital for the mentally ill, was on his way home across the 14th Street bridge in his truck when he heard a man yelling that there was an aircraft in the water. He was the first to jump into the water to attempt to contact the survivors. Other motorists and civilian bystanders made a makeshift rope of battery cables, scarves, and anything else they could find to keep Olian from drowning. He remained in the water for about twenty minutes until a United States Park Service Police helicopter arrived, whereupon he was reeled back to shore by the others, while the helicopter crew focused on the crash victims clinging to the tail section of the plane.
The only rescue helicopter arrives
News cameramen watched helplessly from the bridge, being only able to record the disaster for the rest of the world to see. Suddenly hope arrived in the form of a park police helicopter, trailing a lifeline reaching to the outstretched arms of the victims in the water below. At approximately 4:20 PM EST, Eagle 1, a United States Park Police helicopter based at the "Eagles Nest" at Anacostia Park in Washington DC and manned by pilot Donald W. Usher and paramedic Melvin E. (Gene) Windsor arrived and assisted at great risk to themselves, at one time getting so close to the ice-clogged river that the helicopter's skids went beneath the surface of the water. As the helicopter crew lowered a line to the survivors for towing them to shore, one survivor, later identified as Arland D. Williams Jr., was still attached to part of the plane. He repeatedly passed the line to others, After lifting and towing two badly injured passengers to shore one at a time, when the helicopter returned, an attempt was made to use 2 lines to haul 3 more, and two fell back into the icy water. By then one of these was too weak to grab the line. A watching bystander, a government office assistant Lenny Skutnik, stripped off his coat and boots, and in short sleeves, dove into the icy water, and swam out to assist her. The helicopter then proceeded to where the other passengers had fallen, and paramedic Gene Windsor dropped from the safety of the helicopter into the water to attach a line to her. By the time the helicopter crew could return for Arland D. Williams Jr., the last survivor, both he and the airplane's tail section had disappeared beneath the icy surface. His body and those of the other occupants were later recovered.
According to the coroner, Williams who had passed the lifeline to others, was the only plane passenger to die by drowning. Donald W. Usher was a United States National Park Service police officer and helicopter pilot who acted heroically on January 13, 1982 following the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 in the Potomac River at Washington DC. A total of 78 persons were killed on that day of both tragedy...
..
News media outlets followed the story with diligence. Notably, the Washington Post newspaper published a story about the unidentified survivor of the impact who handed the lifeline to others and apparently drowned before he could be rescued himself. ...
"He was about 50 years old, one of half a dozen survivors clinging to twisted wreckage bobbing in the icy Potomac when the first helicopter arrived. To the copter's two-man Park Police crew he seemed the most alert. Life vests were dropped, then a flotation ball. The man passed them to the others. On two occasions, the crew recalled last night, he handed away a life line from the hovering machine that could have dragged him to safety. The helicopter crew - who rescued five people, the only persons who survived from the jetliner - lifted a woman to the riverbank, then dragged three more persons across the ice to safety. Then the life line saved a woman who was trying to swim away from the sinking wreckage, and the helicopter pilot, Donald W. Usher, returned to the scene, but the man was gone,"
source: "A Hero - Passenger Aids Others, Then Dies", The Washington Post, January 14, 1982.
Honoring heroism
The passenger who had survived the crash and had repeatedly given up the rescue lines to other survivors before drowning himself was later identified as a 46 year old bank examiner, Arland D. Williams Jr. The repaired 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River at the crash site, which had been officially named the "Rochambeau Bridge", was renamed the "Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge" in his honor. The Citadel in South Carolina, from which he graduated in 1957, has several memorials to him. In 2003, the new Arland D. Williams Jr. Elementary School was dedicated in his hometown of Mattoon in Coles County, Illinois. Arland D. Williams Jr. ... The 14th Street Bridge carries Interstate 395 and U.S. Highway 1 traffic across the Potomac River, connecting Arlington, Virginia and Washington DC. The bridge is also known for being the location of the Air Florida Flight 90 airplane crash on January 13, 1982. ... The Arland D. Williams Jr. ...
Passenger number 6. Helluva guy.
:thumbup: 
