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The Crash of Air Florida “Palm 90”

Contributed by Nick Duros
Tuesday, 24 January 2006
Page 1 of 2 Washington Regan National Airport had been closed for just about an hour when the Captain of Air Florida Flight 90 had all of the passengers board the aircraft at 2:30 to preempt the airport’s reopening. The airport was closed so they could plow runway 36/18 thanks to one of the worst blizzards in the Washington DC area’s history. The blizzard dumped approximately 25 inches of snow on the area. In such weather conditions, not following procedures through haste and inexperience can be very deadly as proven through the deaths of 74 of its 79 passengers of “Palm 90”... Washington Regan National Airport had been closed for just about an hour when the Captain of Air Florida Flight 90 had all of the passengers board the aircraft at 2:30 to preempt the airport’s reopening. The airport was closed so they could plow runway 36/18 thanks to one of the worst blizzards in the Washington DC area’s history. The blizzard dumped approximately 25 inches of snow on the area. In such weather conditions, not following procedures through haste and inexperience can be very deadly as proven through the deaths of 74 of its 79 passengers of “Palm 90”. As the passengers of Flight 90 were boarding the Captain ordered the aircraft to be deiced. The captain was then told to expect further delay so he halted the deicing. At 3:00 he instructed the deicing to continue and it was finished at 3:10. Flight 90 was then cleared for pushback at 3:23. Ground crews had reported that there was a light dusting of snow on the wings. The Tug attempted to push back the 737-222B but was unsuccessful due to the deep accumulation of snow. Not following company policy, the Captain elected to use thrust reversers to pull back from the gate which unfortunately did no more than suck slush and snow into the two engines. Finally a Tug with chains was called in and successfully pushed back Flight 90. Flight 90 then proceeded to taxi in to the sixteenth position for takeoff behind a New York Air DC-9. As snow was accumulating on the wings it was decided that it might be a bright idea to attempt to deice the aircraft’s wings through the hot exhaust of the DC-9 in front of them. While in theory this idea might have seemed smart, all this really did was cause the ice on the front of the wings to be pushed to the trailing edge where there is no Anti or Deicing. In addition to that, the crew failed to even turn on the engine’s anti-ice systems as confirmed through the cockpit voice recorder in the captain saying “off” when asked “Engine Anti-Ice” by the first officer on the checklist. Flight 90 was cleared for takeoff at 3:59 with instructions to depart as soon as possible as another aircraft was on a 2.5 mile final. The Captain remarked "real cold, real cold," as the First Officer advanced the throttles to takeoff power of an EPR (engine pressure ratio) rating of 2.04 when the throttles had not been advanced fully (Yes fully is a relative term as it changes due to weather and other factors, but it was significantly lower than any normal throttle setting.) As the aircraft speeded up on the snowy runway the First Officer made his uneasiness known in saying “God, look at that thing. That don't seem right, does it? Uh, that's not right.” To which the Captain replied “Yes it is, there's eighty.” The First Officer made his discontent known two more times before rotation in saying “Naw, I don't think that's right. Ah, maybe it is.” And then a few seconds later “I don't know.” At rotation speed the 737 pitched up sharply acknowledged by the Captain saying “Easy”. The aircraft lifted off and the stick shaker immediately began to sound. The efforts of the flight crew to maintain level flight failed as Flight 90 plummeted back to the ground from which it just left. In the last moments of the flight, the Captain stated "Stalling, we're falling." To which the First Officer replied "Larry, we're going down Larry." And in the final words the Captain stated eerily "I know it." << Start < Previous 1 2 Next > End >>