On January 13, 1982, an Air Florida Boeing 737-222 plunged into
the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killing 78 people. The
crash, caused by bad weather, took place only two miles from
the White House.
The Air Florida flight took off from Washington National Airport
in Arlington, Virginia, with 74 passengers and 5 crew members
on board. The plane had flown into Washington from Miami in
the early afternoon and was supposed to return to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, after a short stop.
However, snow in Washington temporarily closed the airport and
when it reopened, the plane was de-iced with chemical anti-freeze,
but the plane still had difficulty moving away from the gate due to
the ice. When it eventually made it to the airport’s only usable
runway, it was forced to wait 45 minutes for clearance to take
off.
Not wanting to further delay the flight, the pilot, Larry Wheaton,
did not return for more de-icing, and worse, failed to turn on the
plane’s own de-icing system.
