Kelly Duncan (a. k. a Kelly Duncan Moore after marriage) was the youngest flight attendant on Air Florida Flight 90 which crashed moments after takeoff during severe cold weather conditions from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (then Washington National Airport) on January 13, 1982. Flight attendants or cabin crew (historically known as stewards air hosts/hostesses or stewardesses) are members of an Aircrew Air Florida Flight 90 was an Air Florida Flight of a Boeing 737-222 Airliner that crashed into the 14th Street Bridge across Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public Airport located three miles (5 km) south of the Central business district of Washington Events 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople. 888 - Odo Count of Paris becomes King of the Franks Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) The doomed plane failed to gain altitude, crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and then plunged through a thick layer of ice into the Potomac River, killing 78 persons, including 4 persons in cars on the bridge. The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid- Atlantic coast of the United States.
Duncan, 22-years old, was seated in a rear jump seat and was wearing a seat belt as required by procedures during the takeoff. A seat belt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a Safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a Vehicle against harmful movement that may result from Only she and 5 passengers did not sustain fatal injuries during the initial and secondary impacts. Afterward, only the broken off tail section of B-737 aircraft remained afloat. Finding herself alive in the cold water, Duncan assisted the other survivors as they clung to a small part of the tail section in the ice-choked river. She inflated the only flotation device they could find and passed it to one of the more injured passengers. A single rescue helicopter of the U.S. Park Police arrived about 20 minutes later and, with assistance from bystanders, rescued all but one (Arland D. Williams, Jr.) of the six persons in the water. The United States Park Police (USPP is the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement agency in the United States. Arland Dean Williams Jr ( September 23, 1935 – January 13, 1982) was a passenger aboard Air Florida Flight 90, which crashed on
In the NTSB final report, the NTSB recognized her by stating[1]:
| “ | In addition, the Safety Board recognizes the unselfish act of the flight attendant who inflated the only available lifevest and gave it to one of the more severely injured passengers | ” |
After recovering from her injuries, she returned to flying for less than two years before beginning church work ministering to children. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB is an independent U In 2005, married and with three teenaged children, she told an interviewer from CNN that "living through that horrific crash changed her life and her priorities. " In 2005, CNN quoted her as saying:
| “ | I feel like every day has been a blessing. I have a wonderful life. (. . . ) It sounds crazy to say it, but that accident changed my life for good. (. . . ) God used a bad thing to turn my life around. | ” |
See also
External links
- MetaFilter post with links to Flight 90 crash
- NTSB Report AAR-82/08 Air Florida, Inc., Boeing 737-222, N62AF, Collision with 14th Street Bridge near Washington National Airport Washington, DC January 13, 1982
- Air Florida Flight 90: Reservists remember
- Roads to the Future website - 14th Street Bridge, the Air Florida Crash, and Subway Disaster
- Cockpit voice recording transcript for the crash of Air Florida Flight 90
- Aviation Safety Network - report on Air Florida Flight 90
- CNN 2005 interview with Kelly Duncan Moore
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