Air Florida Flight 90
Air Florida Flight 90 was an Air Florida flight of a Boeing 737-222 (#N62AF) which crashed in Washington, DC on January 13, 1982. It was on a Washington National Airport, Washington, DC (DCA) -- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (FLL) route.The plane took off from Washington National Airport in heavy snow at 4:01pm. Even though it was freezing and snowing, the crew did not activate the anti-ice systems. This caused indicators to read a higher thrust than was actually being output by the engines, and the takeoff was attempted at only 71% thrust. It crashed into the 14th Street Bridge, between Arlington National Cemetery and Washington DC. It hit six cars and a truck on the bridge. It then fell into the freezing Potomac River.
4 of the 5 crew members and 70 of the 74 passengers perished, leaving 5 survivors out of the 79 on the plane. There were also four fatalities among the motorists on the bridge, with four others on the bridge injured.
The 14th Street Bridge, officially the "Rochambeau Bridge", was renamed the "Arland D. Williams, Jr. Memorial Bridge", after one of the passengers of Flight 90 who died while saving others from the freezing water.
A half hour later, the Washington Metro suffered its first fatal crash, which meant that the busiest airport, busiest highway and busiest subway line were closed, paralyzing the area.
Howard Stern, then with local station DC101, gained notoriety the next day when he called Air Florida, on-air, and asked what the fare was for a one-way ticket from National Airport to the 14th Street Bridge.