- Nov 26, 2019
- 16,251
- 8,608
- 51
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Male
- Faith
- Generic Orthodox Christian
- Marital Status
- Celibate
That would be Kelly Duncan, the only surviving flight attendant on Air Florida Flight 90, which in 1982 crashed into the freezing Potomac due to incredible incompetence from the pilots (who failed to de-ice their aircraft properly: rather than calling for the de-icing truck, which is the correct procedure, because they were behind schedule they decided to pull their 737-200 right up behind a DC-9 aircraft (that type has tail mounted engines mounted high on the fuselage, above the 737 wing), the idea being the jetblast would blow the snow off the wings, but of course, it did not, but instead solidified the snow into ice, which ruined the aerodynamics, preventing the aircraft from attaining a positive rate of climb and instead causing it to plunge into the river, killing 79 out of 84 souls on board. The heroic passenger who at the cost of his own life saved Flight Attendant Kelly Duncan before sadly drowning was Arland D. Williams Jr.
Air Florida went out of business in 1984 due to a combination of the crash and mismanagement. Ed Acker, the former CEO, became president of Pan Am in 1982 and retired in 1988, by which time the once great airline was dying. It would go out of business in 1991 after having sold its Pacific routes to United and later its coveted European network including its precious slots at London Heathrow (Pan Am and TWA, the leading US airlines, both had slots at Heathrow, and both sold them as their fortunes declined to United and American, with American later purchasing TWA in 2001; later these restrictions were lifted, so Delta, the other surviving US network airline, also serves Heathrow).
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