 |    |
|
|
You are here: Articles > Movie reviews > Flight 90...
|
Aviation articles |
Movie reviews |
Flight stories | ||||
Movie overview True story of the Air Florida Boeing 737-200 that crashed on the 14th St. Bridge in Washington, D.C., leaving 5 survivors stranded in the icy waters of the Potomac River. Originally published in May 1998. Re-edited in December 1999. |
 ir Florida flight 90 crashed on the 14th Street Bridge near Washington National Airport on January 13, 1982. Here is a movie depicting this terrible plane crash, as part of my movie reviews about air disaster movies based on true stories. This is Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac, also known as Florida Flight 90.
 Plot summaryIn the beginning of the movie, we see the usual routine for some of the passengers of Palm 90 (the callsign of Air Florida flight 90). We see Priscilla Tirado (Dinah Manoff) with her husband Jose (Richard Beauchamp) and her baby in the cold weather of Washington, D.C. suburbs, leaving for the sunny palmtrees of Tampa. We see the businessmen going on their respective business trips, kissing their family goodbye. Patricia "Nikki" Felch (Jeanetta Arnette) and Joe Stiley (Stephen Macht), two business associates, see their plans changing. Because of bad weather in Alabama, they now head for Tampa. Meanwhile, N62AF, a Boeing 737-222 operated by Air Florida, is on ground checking at Miami International Airport preparing for the scheduled Miami-Washington 11 o'clock service. The 5-member crew is already on board. Donna Adams (Kate Vernon) is the Senior Flight Attendant, assisted by Marilyn Nichols (Jamie Rose), who just learned she is pregnant and seems to be a good friend of Donna. We also see Kelly Duncan (Kathleen Wilhoite), possibly the "junior" among the Flight Attendants. In the cockpit, Captain Larry Wheaton (James Whitmore Jr.) and First Officer Roger Pettit (Bruce Wright) already put throttles on maximum thrust and take off from sunny Miami in less than 30 seconds. It's 11 AM. 
A few hours later, N62AF is already on approach at Washington National. The descent is a little shaky and the flight attendants are the first to notice, as the B737 makes a very bumpy touchdown at National Airport. It's about 1:30PM. The weather at Washington is at its worst. Marilyn and Donna are worried about their departure, as Donna says: "The question is... Will we be able to get out?". Almost all the passengers are already waiting near the gate of Palm 90. The flight is scheduled to depart at 2:15PM.
It's 2 PM. The passengers start boarding (at last) the B737. A passenger complains about bad weather: "A window seat! I finally got me a window seat, a window you can't see though!". The snow storm is at its highest. The ground employees are de-icing the wings of the B737. The Captain got just informed the airport might be closed for an hour to clear the runway, so he orders to stop the de-icing. At about 3PM, the airport is re-opened and de-icing starts again. At 3:10PM, the de-icing is over, and the de-icing crew reports a "small dusting" on both wings. 
Palm 90 pushes from the gate at 3:23PM and is sixteenth in priority for take-off, right behind a New York Air DC-9. Joe Stiley asks Flight Attendant Marilyn Nichols why don't the pilots go outside to check any build-up of ice on the wings and the engines. Marilyn replies: "The anti-ice system should take care of that. I'm sure the captain has taken the necessary precautions."... Surprisingly, the Captain, during the engine checklist prior to departure replies to "Anti-Ice Engine?", "OFF"... The first of the many mistakes that lead to the crash...
At 3:59PM, 50 minutes after de-icing, Palm 90 is cleared to take-off from runway 36. The take-off from 36 is leading right into the White House and demanding a left turn to fly in the direction of the Potomac River after airborne. The last transmission from National Tower to Palm 90 is: "No delay on departure if you will. Traffic's two and a half out for the runway". Take-off thrust is applied. TAKE-OFF THRUST??? No way! 
The probes in the engines are covered with ice and snow and indicate wrong read-outs. When the thrust levers are not at full throttle, the EPR read-out already indicates full power (when in fact is less power than required for take-off). 10 seconds. Nothing... 20 seconds, nothing either. The plane still rolls on the runway, but nothing. The passengers are the first to notice... First Officer Pettit, looking at the two EPR gauges of the engines, asks the Captain if everything is correct. His exasperated voice says the readings are correct, but Pettit is still suspicious.
The passengers notice no lift-up after 30 seconds. After quick dialog between a First Officer worried about the conditions of the plane and a Captain with an attack of get-there-itis, Palm 90 finally gets to V1 and rotates after 45 seconds. The relieved face of the passengers shows up as the B737 is nose up. But their happy faces change when First Officer Pettit notices a stickshake. All the cabin suddenly is shaking. The overhead compartments open by themselves. The passengers' carry-ons are scattered on the floor. The seatbacks are vibrating hard. The telephone receptor in the galley falls. Some passengers and Flight Attendant Kelly Duncan, scared to death about their lives, put their heads on their knees, assuming the emergency landing position. The CVR transcript shows a surprising ending for this ill-fated dialog on the Boeing 737. "Larry, we're going down!!!" "I know it." 
Palm 90 crashes on the southern span of the 14th Street Bridge, called then the Rochambeau Bridge (named after a French revolutionary who assisted Washington in the Battle of Yorktown in 1781). It hits three cars (killing four people on the ground) and suddenly plunges and dissapears into the icy waters. The rest of the movie deals with the rescue efforts of the U.S. Police Park and a brave citizen, Lenny Skutnik, who went into the icy water to save one survivor from drowning. Only 4 passengers and one crew member survived the accident. The sequences are very realistic and even show some actual footage from that day.
6 people on Palm 90 made it through the crash, but 5 survived. One passenger, identified as Arland Williams, was passed the cord to climb into the helicopter, but he passed it each time to other survivors. When there was no one left but him and it was his turn, he was gone. In memory of his heroic act which unfortunately cost his life, the Rochambeau Bridge is now known as the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge. The five survivors are finally Priscilla Tirado, travelling with her husband and baby who perished in the crash, Joe Stiley, businessman with his secretary Patricia Felch, Burt Hamilton, businessman travelling alone, and Kelly Duncan, flight attendant. AppreciationThe overall movie is simply excellent. The acting is very good. The movie is thrilling 'till the end. The producers made an almost perfect job on re-creating the event. Too bad the lack of special effects at the time made a scene of the B737 hitting the bridge impossible. It's the only flaw I see right now. I give this movie 9.5 out of 10. This is definitely one of the best in its category. Although not much crash but mostly humanitarian help, the movie made a nearly perfect reenactment of the event. Things to noticeHere are the goofs and trivia about Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac.
The aircraftPalm 90 is a Boeing 737-222 operated by Air Florida. Its registry code was N62AF and was operating a DCA-TPA-FLL route (Washington National - Tampa - Fort Lauderdale). Movie links If you have other URLs to add to this list, or to report a dead link, please contact us.
SpecificationsU.S.A. 1984, Produced by Finnegan Pinchuk. Directed by Robert Michael Lewis. Starring Jeanetta Arnette, Barry Corbin, Stephen Macht, Richard Masur, Donnelly Rhodes, Jamie Rose. Rated PG. | ||||
 |
|
|
| ||
  |
 Parked B737: from Airliners.Net, snow by Sergio Ortega Jamie Rose pic: from the The Jamie Rose Page Other movie stills: captured by Sergio Ortega. © 1998-2008, airodyssey.net. All rights reserved. Disclaimer, trademarks, privacy policy. | ||||
Some shots of the parked Boeing 737 at Miami show it is bearing the registry code N81AF (when the real code was N62AF).