January 13th 1982, Air Florida flight 90 was set to depart from Washington’s National Airport headed for Tampa and then Fort Lauderdale. There were 74 passengers onboard. The captain was Larry Wheaton and the first officer was Roget Pettit. The flight attendants were Marilyn Nichols, Donna Adams and Kelly Duncan.
The flight attendant
Kelly was the youngest flight attendant at 22 years old and was a self-confessed ‘party girl’. She’d just come back from a weekend with her friends in the Florida Keys. Kelly had previously flown for Air Sunshine, an airline acquired by Air Florida. 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.
What happened next
The flight had been delayed by one hour and 45 minutes due to snow, which temporarily closed the airport. De-icing has taken place 45 minutes before take-off. The take-off roll was long and the aircraft shuddered violently. The man in the seat in front of Kelly turned round looking scared and she shrugged her shoulders. 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 14th Street Bridge, hitting seven vehicles. It then plunged into the river.
Freezing conditions
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 surface and swim to the wreckage pushing chunks of ice out of the 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.
” 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 ready to die.”
Kelly – flight attendant on Air Florida flight 90
She was confused and 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 and help the survivors. 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.
Fighting for survival
One survivor who was not holding on to the wreckage 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. The helicopter dropped another two ropes, and again the trapped man handed the ropes to two others. Another rope pulled a third survivor. Two had fallen back into the water. One was rescued by being pulled onto the aircraft 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, drowned before he could be rescued.
Aftermath
Kelly was rescued after 20 minutes in the water and was seriously injured and hospitalized. She woke up the next day, not really knowing what had happened. She could hear a news reporter’s voice in the distance and then realized that she had been in the accident. Seventy passengers died that day as did two flight crew and two flight attendants. Four people died and four 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.
“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 report