Kelly Duncan was the youngest flight attendant on Air Florida Flight 90 which crashed moments after takeoff during severe cold weather conditions from Washington National Airport on January 13, 1982. The doomed plane failed to gain altitude, and crashed into 14th Street Bridge and then plunged through a thick layer of ice into the Potomac River, killing 78 persons.
Duncan was seated in a rear jump seat and was wearing a seat belt as required by procedures during the takeoff. Only she and 5 passengers did not sustain fatal injuries during the initial impacts. Afterward, only the broken off tail section of B-737 aircraft remained afloat. Finding herself alive in the cold water, Duncan assisted the other survivors as they clung to a small part of the tail section in the ice-chocked river. She inflated the only flotation device they could find, and passed it to one of the more-injured passengers. A single rescue helicopter of the U.S. Park Police arrived about 20 minutes later, and with assistance from bystanders, rescued all but one of the six persons in the water.
See also main article Air Florida Flight 90.
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