Air Florida Flight 90 - A Cabin Crew Perspective

Air Florida flight 90 was set to depart from Washington's National Airport bound for Tampa and then Fort Lauderdale on January 13th, 1982. There were 74 passengers onboard the Boeing 737-200. The captain was Larry Wheaton, and the first officer was Roget Pettit. The cabin was led by senior flight attendant 23-year-old Donna Adams, who had worked with Air Florida for four years. Working with her were flight attendants 25-year-old Marilyn Nichols, who had three years of experience at the airline, and Kelly Duncan. Kelly was the youngest flight attendant at 22 and a self-confessed party girl. She'd just come back from a drinking weekend with her friends in the Florida Keys. She was based in Miami and had flown previously for Air Sunshine, an airline acquired by Air Florida and had flown for three years. She loved the freedom she had and the control she had over her life. She was working in the rear of the cabin that day. Kelly went to her jump seat and strapped into her harness, ready for take-off. Donna and Marilyn were good friends and took jumpseats next to the cockpit. "I took my seat in the back jump seat, strapped myself in and we started down the runway. Immediately after leaving the ground, the aircraft started to shake really bad. The last thing I saw was a passenger in the very last seat, he turned around to me and looked very worried and I just kind of shrugged my shoulders. And then the next minute I was in a different - I didn't know what had happened." The flight had been delayed by one hour and 45 minutes due to snow, which had temporarily closed the airport. The aircraft had been de-iced 45 minutes before take-off. The take-off roll was long, and the aircraft shuddered violently. The aircraft wings and some of the fuselage were contaminated with ice and snow. The aircraft failed to get fully airborne and, 30 seconds later, smashed into the 14th Street Bridge, hitting seven vehicles. It then plunged into the river. Kelly and four passengers from the rear of the aircraft were thrown out of the aircraft into the icy Potomac River. One passenger remained trapped in the wreckage. No other passengers or crew had survived the impact. Kelly found herself underwater. She managed to swim to the wreckage and pushed chunks of ice out of her way. She could see people standing at the side of the river, looking on helplessly. She was afraid that those people would watch her die. "I felt like I was just so confused, like what in the world just happened? And as the time went on, I started to think, ‘I'm going to die.' That's when I started to go, ‘I think this is the day I'm going to die.'' She was fighting hypothermia but clung to the wreckage and tried to help the other survivors. There were now four of them holding on to the tail section of the aircraft. The wreckage was sinking. Some of the witnesses of the accident dove into the river to try to help those who survived. The rescue helicopter arrived at the scene, which gave Kelly hope. She found a life vest in the wreckage and gave it to the most injured survivor. "My next feeling was that I was just floating through white and I felt like I was dying and I just thought I'm not really ready to die." One survivor was pulled through the ice to the shore by the helicopter. Another survivor trapped by wreckage grabbed the rescue rope but handed it to Kelly, who was towed ashore after 28 minutes in the freezing water. She was shoeless, stockings shredded and apron flying in the wind. The helicopter dropped another two ropes, and again the trapped man handed the ropes to two other survivors. Another rope pulled a third survivor to shore. Two of them had fallen back into the water. One was rescued by being pulled onto the aircraft's skid. One man jumped into the river to pull ashore another survivor who was too weak to grab the rope. Sadly, the man trapped in the wreckage who selflessly gave his survival ropes away drowned before he could be rescued. "I remember hearing about him and the helicopter pilots told me they saw him with a rope and kind of (handing) it off to other people. ... I never saw him, but I am obviously very thankful for him ..." After her dramatic rescue, Kelly was seriously injured and hospitalized. Her temperature didn't even register on the thermometer when she reached the shore. She woke up the next day, not really knowing what had happened. She could hear a news reporter's voice in the background and then realized that she had been in an aircraft accident. She had broken her wrist and ankle and had a six-inch laceration to her thigh. Seventy passengers tragically died that day as did the two flight crew and two flight attendants, Marilyn and Donna. Four passengers died in the icy waters and four people were injured when the aircraft hit the vehicles on the bridge. The flight crew had failed to engage the anti-ice system and the captain had failed to abort the take-off, knowing there was ice on the wings. Kelly returned to her flight attendant position after 5 months and flew for another one and a half years. She later married and had three children and worked as a preschool teacher. "The safety board recognizes the unselfish act of the flight attendant who inflated the only available life vest and gave it to one of the more severely injured passengers." (NTSB)