Passage 2

   On January 13, 1982, a severe storm hit Washington, D.C. The temperature fell to the mid-teens. Driving snow made it hard to see. Flights out of Washington’s National Airport were delayed while snowplows cleared the runways. Air Florida Flight 90, with its 79 passengers, was no exception. It was originally scheduled to depart at 2:15 P.M. Clearing the runways, however, took over an hour. At 3:37, the pilot was finally allowed to move the plane into position for takeoff, but 15 other planes were lined up ahead of it. Another 20 minutes went by before Flight 90 could roll out onto the runway.
While Flight 90 was waiting for the runways to be plowed, the ice that had formed on its wings was removed. But new ice began to form immediately. As the pilot waited for the 15 other planes to take off, the ice grew heavier. Ice buildup on a plane’s wings is dangerous. It makes the plane heavier and disturbs the normal flow of air over the wings. Despite the fresh layer of ice, Flight 90 roared down the runway when its turn came at 3:59 P.M.
As the jet took off, it trembled violently. Something was wrong. It was not gaining altitude as it should. One of the passengers, who was also a pilot, said, “We’re not going to make it.”
Meanwhile, traffic on the Fourteenth Street Bridge over the Potomac River was heavy. It was rush hour, and the workers who lived outside the city were headed home. Suddenly the blue, green, and white form of an Air Florida 727 appeared out of the clouds. Flight 90 was going down, and it was heading straight for the crowded bridge. The motorists on the bridge could do nothing but watch in horror as the airplane fell from the sky and smashed across the road. Several cars were badly hit. Four motorists were killed before the plane plunged into the icy Potomac.