Air Florida Flight 90, enroute from Washington National Airport to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, crashed shortly after takeoff in the late afternoon of January 13, 1982. The 737 crashed into the Rochambeau Bridge, the eastern central span (I-395) of the 14th Street Bridge connecting Washington, DC and Arlington, Virginia, and then the frozen Potomac River. (The Rochambeau Bridge was later renamed the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Memorial Bridge in honor of a passenger who died while saving others from the water). Of the 79 passengers and crew, 74 were killed, as well as four motorists. Investigators blamed the crash on a failure to de-ice the wings and engines properly, and on the Flordai-based crew's inexperience with flying in snowy, icy conditions.
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