Lenny Skutnik
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Martin L. (Lenny) Skutnik III is celebrated for an act of heroism he performed following the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 on January 13, 1982. He dove into an icy river and saved the life of an airline passenger. For this act he was commended by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the annual State of the Union speech that was held later in the month. He was the first in what has become an annual tradition of notable people being invited to sit in the President's box at the State of the Union address.
[edit] Air Florida Flight 90
January 13, 1982, had brought one of the worst blizzards in Washington history. At 3:59 p.m. EST, Air Florida Flight 90 was cleared for takeoff and began rumbling down the runway. But ice on its wings hampered its lift. The aircraft — a twin-engine Boeing 737 — finally took off but was unable to gain altitude. At 4:01 p.m. it crashed into the Rochambeau span of the 14th Street Bridge complex. The aircraft broke apart on impact and sank through an inch of ice into the Potomac River. The National Transportation Safety Board later attributed the crash to the crew's failure to properly de-ice the aircraft.
The crash scene was almost immediately televised due to the proximity of the site to Washington news bureaus. Viewers at first saw only a hole in the ice. All but the tail section had become submerged. Only five of the 79 passengers survived the crash. Four people died, hit by the plane's tail, while in the traffic jam on the Rochambeau bridge, now named the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Memorial Bridge.
News cameramen and viewers watched helplessly. Suddenly hope arrived in the form of a park police helicopter, trailing a lifeline reaching to the outstretched arms of the victims in the water below. At approximately 4:20 p.m., Eagle 1, a United States Park Police Bell 206 Jetranger helicopter, N33PP, based at Anacostia Park in Washington, D.C., arrived. At great risk, it assisted the survivors, once getting so close to the ice-clogged river that the helicopter's skids went beneath the surface of the water.
As the helicopter crew lowered a line to the survivors for towing them to shore, one survivor, later identified as Arland D. Williams Jr., was still attached to part of the plane. He repeatedly passed the line to others. After lifting and towing two badly injured passengers to shore one at a time, when the helicopter returned, an attempt was made to use two lines to haul three more; two fell back into the icy water.
By then one of the survivors, Priscilla Tirado, was too weak to grab the line, so a bystander, 28-year-old government office assistant Lenny Skutnik, stripped off his coat and boots and, in short sleeves, dove into the icy water and swam out to assist her. The helicopter then proceeded to where the other survivor, Patricia Felch, had fallen, and paramedic Melvin E. (Gene) Windsor dropped from the safety of the helicopter into the water to attach a line to her. By the time the helicopter crew could return for Williams, he and the airplane's tail section had disappeared beneath the surface. His body and those of the other occupants were recovered later.
Skutnik received the United States Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal and the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal for his efforts.
[edit] State of the Union speech
Lenny Skutnik was invited to attend the State of the Union speech, which was held 13 days later. He sat next to the First Lady Nancy Reagan as the guest of President Ronald Reagan, who said,
| “ | Just two weeks ago, in the midst of a terrible tragedy on the Potomac, we saw again the spirit of American heroism at its finest the heroism of dedicated rescue workers saving crash victims from icy waters.
And we saw the heroism of one of our young Government employees, Lenny Skutnik, who, when he saw a woman lose her grip on the helicopter line, dived into the water and dragged her to safety. |
” |
Since then, others who are invited into the Presidential gallery and honored in the speech have been known among the Washington press corps as "Lenny Skutniks". The Presidential gallery is sometimes referred to as "The Heroes' Gallery".
