This disaster movie’s entire run time happens today –
January 13. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.
FLIGHT 90: DISASTER ON THE POTOMAC
On January 13, 1982 we are
introduced the people whose lives will intersect on Air Florida Flight 90 from Washington,
D.C. to Tampa. Marilyn Nichols, a stewardess has just learned she is pregnant.
Priscilla Tirado and her husband Jose are flying to take up a new job. Nikki
Felch is going to a trip with her boss, Joe Stiley to Alabama, but her
boyfriend David Frank wants to get married. Bert Hamilton is going on a
business trip to Florida, but would rather stay with his wife and son. Roger
Olian is a maintenance man at a mental hospital, married to Ginger, who works
in the Naval Recruitment Office. Arland
Williams is flying to Florida to close a bank for the Federal Reserve. Marilyn,
Flight attendant Kelly Duncan and the plane leave Florida and fly to
Washington. They land in Washington in a blinding snowstorm. After the
passengers boarded the plane they had to sit for 50 minutes. This caused ice to
accumulate on the plane. Most passengers ignore the stewardesses safety talk.
The de-icing that was done was done improperly. The pilots seemed unconcerned about ice on the wings. When the
plane tries to take off, ice on the sensors causes the pilots to have a false
idea of their speed. The plane only gets to 352 feet altitude before it stalls.
The plane hits the 14th Street Bridge and crashes into the Potomac
River. Bert Hamilton, Joe Stiley, Nikki
Felch, Priscilla Tirado, Kelly Duncan and Arland Williams make it out of the
plane and cling to a piece of wreckage in the freezing river. Roger Olain, who
was on the bridge plunges into the river to try to help. Meanwhile, friends and
relatives learn about the crash. Donald Usher and Melvin Windsor take off in
their helicopter. Olain gets close enough to shout encouragement to the
survivors. The helicopter rescues Bert Hamilton. When it returns Arland
Williams passes the rescue line to Kelly Duncan. They pull Olain out of the
river. Each time when offered the rope, Williams passed it on to Joe, Nikki and
Priscilla. Joe is pulled to shore, but a stranger, Lenny Skutnik has to jump in
and pull Priscilla to shore. By the time Nikki is rescued, Arland has slipped
beneath the water. The survivors start
to come to terms with what happened. [the entire film]
A pretty good docudrama. The film shows what caused the
disaster and how the rescue happened. Gives credit to the self-sacrifice of
Arland Williams.
Air and Space
Disasters of the World by Xavier Waterkeyn (New Holland Publishers, London,
2007) at page 127 and the movie at 00:20 give the date of the crash.
Producers – Bill Finnegan and Patricia Finnegan
Director – Robert Michael Lewis
Screenplay – John McGreevey
Runtime – 1 hour 30 minutes
Released – April 1, 1984
Starring -
Jeanetta Arnette as Nikki Felch
Barry Corbin as Bert Hamilton
Stephen Macht as Joe Stiley
Richard Masur as Roger Olian
Donnelly Rhodes as Arland Williams
Jamie Rose as Marilyn Nichols
Chad Lowe as Al Hamilton
Dinah Manoff as Priscilla Tirado
Ken Olin as David Frank
Kathleen Wilhoite as Kelly Duncan
Robert Factor as Lenny Skutnik
