A Plane Crash 40 Years Ago. A Hero and a State of the Union Tradition.
Air Florida flight #90 crashed into the icey Potomac River. A Washington CBO staffer risked his life to save another.
On January 13, 1982, an Air Florida Boeing 737 departing DCA Reagan National for Tampa, FL crashed into the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. The plane — attempting to depart during a significant snow storm — was airborne for just some 30 seconds. The plane’s ability to gain altitude and remain airborne after takeoff was compromised by wings, flaps and ailerons that were coated with ice and snow. The aircraft was carrying 74 passengers and five crew members; just four passengers and one flight attendant were rescued from the Potomac River. Four motorists in vehicles were also killed as the doomed airplane briefly collided with the 14th Street Bridge before it struck the partially frozen river.
The frantic rescue effort — dramatically captured by local television news — included a U.S. Park Police helicopter and numerous rescue/EMS personnel along the river bank.
Watching along the river bank was a 28-year-old Congressional Budget Office staffer named Lenny Skutnik. He watched as one injured survivor, flight attendant Priscilla Trijado, became too weak to keep hold of a lifebuoy dropped from a helicopter. Skutnik removed his coat and winter boots and dove into the icy river to rescue Trijado who was barely able to keep her head above water. He dragged her to the shoreline and waiting paramedics.
A State of the Union Hero
President Ronald Reagan was set to deliver his second State of the Union (SOTU) speech thirteen days later. One of his speech writers had watched news coverage of the dramatic Air Florida rescue and a mention of Mr. Skutnik’s heroics made it into the draft of the speech. The White House then invited Skutnik to attend the State of the Union address on January 26. He was seated next to First Lady Nancy Reagan in the House gallery and was apparently, according to a later Time Magazine article, taken aback when Reagan directly acknowledged him by name as a symbol of “the spirit of American heroism at its finest.” Skutnik received a standing ovation.
The 1982 SOTU speech was also notable for Reagan’s call for a “New Federalism” that sought to devolve authority from Washington to state governments. What began as a brief acknowledgment of an unsung hero has turned into a yearly tradition for the State of the Union speech. The very name Lenny Skutnik is now a generic term in Washington, DC-speak for whomever is invited to be a SOTU special guest seated in the presidential gallery: Who is the Lenny Skutnik this year?
The tradition took hold. Presidents have invited ordinary citizens who have overcome considerable obstacles in their lives or military service members — individuals who embody the notion of service to others. Often, notable invitees to SOTU speeches serve to highlight a presidential policy priority for a given year. Some of these individuals include Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin (invited by President Trump), civil rights icon Rosa Parks (invited by President Clinton), and post-Taliban Afghanistan leader Hamid Karzai (invited by George W. Bush). Over the past few years, the tradition is to have several invited guests in attendance who represent a cross-section of America.
That chilly January day in Washington created numerous heroes. One didn’t survive, though. Arland Williams was a passenger who survived the crash. Wounded and still entangled in the aircraft wreckage, he passed lifelines on to others who seemed in worse condition rather than take one for himself. In a matter of just a minute or two, the aircraft wreckage shifted and settled deeper into the river drowning Williams before he could be rescued. The 14th Street Bridge was later renamed the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge.
