Air Florida Flight 90 was an Air Florida flight of a Boeing 737-222 airliner that crashed into the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. on January 13, 1982 immediately after takeoff in a severe snowstorm. The accident claimed the lives of 78 people, including four in cars on the 14th Street Bridge.
During the plane's taxiing, the cockpit voice recorder picked up this conversation between the pilot and co-pilot, in which they discussed the icing situation.
Co-pilot: "It's a losing battle, trying to de-ice these things. It gives you a false sense of security, that's all it does."
Pilot: "Well, it satisfies the Feds (the federal government)."
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the accident was aircraft icing and the failure of the pilots to use all of their anti-icing equipment or abort the takeoff.
Jeff's Take: I don't think I'll ever use the phrase "Good enough for government work" again!
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