On this day: Air Florida goes down

IN 1983, discount airline Air Florida had a flight leaving National Airport in DC (well, in Virginia) for Florida. After some time in the snow, the pilots, who did not want to return to the terminal for de-icing and had attempted to keep the plane snow-free by moving close to planes in front of them, elected to take off. It was the wrong choice—the last of many the pilots made. Flight 90 crashed in to the freezing Potomac, killing nearly everyone aboard, and several people on the bridge into which it crashed. Flight 90 peaked news coverage for Air Florida, which would only be surpassed two years later when the airline folded.