When the Going Gets Weird…

January 22, 2007 by neilkrey.

The media recently reported the 25th anniversary of the Air Florida accident in a snow storm at Washington, D.C. in 1982.  These reports touted the “sweeping legacy” of this accident and the safety improvements that it spawned.

This accident remains fresh in my mind, partly because I watched the live reports on the then-new CNN as survivors and wreckage were pulled from the icy Potomac River, partly because I used this accident as a case study in Crew Resource Management (CRM) classes in the years since.

As with all accidents, there was a chain of events that led to the end of 73 lives.  As with most accidents, the crew had several chances to break the chain of events and avoid the accident.  Their last opportunity was as they began the takeoff on KDCA’s runway 36. Read the rest of this entry »