Flight 90 Crashes into Potomac: 78 Dead in Icy Disaster
The plane never should've left the ground. Iced wings, malfunctioning instruments, and a pilot who ignored warning signs sealed 78 fates that freezing January morning. When Flight 90 slammed into the 14th Street Bridge, it wasn't just a crash—it was a catastrophic chain of human errors. Survivors clung to the plane's tail in the frigid Potomac, watching rescue helicopters hover. And as if the day couldn't get more nightmarish, a Metro train derailed nearby, killing three more. Two transportation disasters. One impossible morning in Washington.
January 13, 1982
44 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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