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Air Florida crash


Ian

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I was in 4th grade at Canterbury Woods off Braeburn Drive in Annandale. We had school that day even though it was snowing lightly in the morning and sticking. It started ripping snow in the afternoon and I believe Fairfax Co. schools shut down 2 hours early but the buses weren't there so many parents came to pick up their kids. My mom picked me up...we only lived a mile away and I went home and drank hot chocolate and watched coverage of the crash on a small TV in our kitchen. We didn't have school that Thursday or Friday and I pretty much sledded all day on this hill by a pond which was frozen over. It was cool because you could sled right into the pond and it gave you an extra 20-30 feet on your run. It actually made some of us dump our tubes for flexible flyers.

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I was on duty as a fire fighter this day, 30 years ago on a very cold, blustery day in SE TX when CNN broke in with the 'live reports' of the flight 90 crash. The scenes are still vivid of the passengers and crew members in the tail section in that frigid water and the brave man that jumped in to help and Helicopter Rescue Operations and their heroic efforts in terrible conditions. Time sure does go by quickly...~sigh~

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I was on duty as a fire fighter this day, 30 years ago on a very cold, blustery day in SE TX when CNN broke in with the 'live reports' of the flight 90 crash. The scenes are still vivid of the passengers and crew members in the tail section in that frigid water and the brave man that jumped in to help and Helicopter Rescue Operations and their heroic efforts in terrible conditions. Time sure does go by quickly...~sigh~

There were two real heroes that day, the guy who jumped in and the passenger who kept handing the sling off the others. That was bad day as the subway crash was also on that day I think.

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I was in junior high and I vividly remember the live news of the helicopter dangling the ring and the guy on shore who coundn't stand seeing people so close but unable to get to safety. When that guy jumped into the water I held my breath and was scared as heck for him. I felt really bad for the people driving across the bridge too.

That crash changed commercial aviation during winter weather for the best though. Even though most of it was pilot error, the de-icing proceedure nowadays keeps planes quite safe considering the weather they have to fly in.

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I was in junior high and I vividly remember the live news of the helicopter dangling the ring and the guy on shore who coundn't stand seeing people so close but unable to get to safety. When that guy jumped into the water I held my breath and was scared as heck for him. I felt really bad for the people driving across the bridge too.

That crash changed commercial aviation during winter weather for the best though. Even though most of it was pilot error, the de-icing proceedure nowadays keeps planes quite safe considering the weather they have to fly in.

I still don't like taking off or landing in snow or bad weather for that matter.

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I still don't like taking off or landing in snow or bad weather for that matter.

Me neither. I used to have to fly a couple of times a week for months for a job I had in the early 2000's. I had some rough flights. Pitt is a crazy city to fly into during the winter. I had to land there during high winds and the plane was pitching and yawing all over the place. First I though a wing was going to scrape the ground then the pland lifted suddenly and came down and bounced off the runway rose again and then landed. People were screaming. I'm not scared to fly much at all but my heart was in my throat that day.

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A guy my father worked with was on the bridge and was decapitated by the plane. Weeks later, his wife offered my dad some "old" golf clubs she found in the attic and he accepted them for me, they turned out to be classic persimmon MacGregor Tourney clubs. I many times found people looking at them, and was offered a full brand new set just for the woods. I used them for many years.

We flew to Florida from DCA a few weeks after the crash to go on a cruise, and to make it worse, it was snowing. I was scared but it worked out fine.

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Me neither. I used to have to fly a couple of times a week for months for a job I had in the early 2000's. I had some rough flights. Pitt is a crazy city to fly into during the winter. I had to land there during high winds and the plane was pitching and yawing all over the place. First I though a wing was going to scrape the ground then the pland lifted suddenly and came down and bounced off the runway rose again and then landed. People were screaming. I'm not scared to fly much at all but my heart was in my throat that day.

My scariest was landing in the afternoon at Denver and seeing a downburst kicking up load of dust just as we landed. The plane bounced around like crazy. They got me there on time but almost with dirty pants.

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My scariest was landing in the afternoon at Denver and seeing a downburst kicking up load of dust just as we landed. The plane bounced around like crazy. They got me there on time but almost with dirty pants.

Colorado Springs was my worst experience, and it was taxing for takeoff in a heavy snow storm. We got stuck as that Braniff International pilot turned too soon on the taxiway while entering the run way. A tug pulled us out after an hour, de iced and off we went to Oklahoma City. The next BI flight had a blow out on takeoff and we had to make an emergency landing at DFW. Needless to say a 3 hour flight with changes ending being 12 hours. I enjoy flying, but snow landings/departures always make me a bit nervous.

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I remember my parents saying how glad they were to get out of work early that day. So many people were stuck for hours trying to get out of the city. I am fascinated by both weather and plane crash stories so this day has always held a lot of interest for me.

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Me neither. I used to have to fly a couple of times a week for months for a job I had in the early 2000's. I had some rough flights. Pitt is a crazy city to fly into during the winter. I had to land there during high winds and the plane was pitching and yawing all over the place. First I though a wing was going to scrape the ground then the pland lifted suddenly and came down and bounced off the runway rose again and then landed. People were screaming. I'm not scared to fly much at all but my heart was in my throat that day.

You should have the pleasure of landing and taking off from Charleston, WV...CRW. That's my home airport. On take off they stand on the brakes until the engines spool up so they have full thrust for the short runway...on landing it looks like you are brushing the mountain sides. It's on a mountain top so it's like landing on a carrier. There is no room for error. This Saturday was fun with the wind and turbulence as we landed.

I was in college at the time of the crash and remember watching it on tv. I can't remember what the weather was like that day at home in western PA.

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