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When I first started flying in and out of DCA in the eighties, you could see the newly rebuilt rail section of the 14th Street Bridge. It was taken out by the Air Florida flight that had the deicing malfunction/negligence. I always thought about that flight, particularly when I was sitting in a plane subject to a deicing routine. Most folks know the name Lenny Skutnik, the government employee who leaped into the icy Potomac to complete the rescue of one of the five survivors. He was at Reagan's State of the Union address a few weeks after the crash, beginning a long tradition of recognizing unsung heroes, and they're called "Skutniks" for that reason. The Park Service helicopter crew ferried five to safety (counting the one Skutnik got the rest of the way), because one surviving passenger was handing off life jackets and handed the rescue line to at least two of the five survivors. The "Man in the Water" as he became known, was tangled in the remains of his seat and was pinned in the wreckage. When the helicopter returned for him on its sixth run, the wreckage had rolled, taking him to his death.It took about a year for the investigation to determine that the Man in the Water was Arland Williams, Jr., a bank examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and a Citadel graduate. The 14th Street Bridge is named after Williams today, but a Time Magazine essay was written in his honor before he was identified:It seems an appropriate Thought of the Day today.
When I first started flying in and out of DCA in the eighties, you could see the newly rebuilt rail section of the 14th Street Bridge. It was taken out by the Air Florida flight that had the deicing malfunction/negligence. I always thought about that flight, particularly when I was sitting in a plane subject to a deicing routine. Most folks know the name Lenny Skutnik, the government employee who leaped into the icy Potomac to complete the rescue of one of the five survivors. He was at Reagan's State of the Union address a few weeks after the crash, beginning a long tradition of recognizing unsung heroes, and they're called "Skutniks" for that reason. The Park Service helicopter crew ferried five to safety (counting the one Skutnik got the rest of the way), because one surviving passenger was handing off life jackets and handed the rescue line to at least two of the five survivors. The "Man in the Water" as he became known, was tangled in the remains of his seat and was pinned in the wreckage. When the helicopter returned for him on its sixth run, the wreckage had rolled, taking him to his death.
It took about a year for the investigation to determine that the Man in the Water was Arland Williams, Jr., a bank examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and a Citadel graduate. The 14th Street Bridge is named after Williams today, but a Time Magazine essay was written in his honor before he was identified:
It seems an appropriate Thought of the Day today.
