In 1982, President Reagan invited Lenny Skutnik as his guest to the State of the Union address, where he recognized him as a hero. Skutnik jumped into the freezing waters of the Potomac just two weeks early to save Priscilla Tirado from drowning. Priscilla was one of just five survivors of Air Flight 90 that crashed and plunged into the icy waters of the Potomac River. President Reagan called the entire rescue operation “the spirit of American heroism at its finest". It was the first time, a president pointed out a seated guest in the gallery, and it began a tradition known as 'the Skutnik'.
"Just 2 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."
Air Florida Flight 90 was scheduled to leave Washington National Airport for Tampa, Florida with 74 passengers on board. After a 90-minute delay due to a heavy snowstorm that dumped 6.5 inches of snow, Flight 90 was cleared for takeoff. Despite concerns of faulty readings from the plane's instrument panel, the captain proceeded down the runway. The 737 briefly reached a maximum altitude of 352 feet before crashing into the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac River less than 1 mile from the end of the runway. The plane struck six cars and a truck before plunging into the frigid cold Potomac River. 78 people died that day, including 70 passengers, 4 crew members and 4 motorcyclists.
Five passenger and one crew member managed to escape the plane and clung to the debris in the icy water of the Potomac as they waited for help to come. The water was just one degree above freezing and by time the rescue helicopter arrived, their limbs were going numb and they were losing the use of their hands making rescue exceedingly difficult. The rescue team was able to get four of the six escapees to land, but Pricilla Tirado was too injured and exhausted to hang on to the rescue line. Lenny Skutnik, an employee of the United States Congressional Budget Office was one of hundreds of bystanders that day, but he could not watch any longer. He was horrified watching from shore and knew that Priscilla had only minutes left to live. When Lenny saw Priscilla beginning to drown, he jumped into the freezing waters and dragged Pricilla to shore, saving her life. The sixth individual never made it out of the waters alive.
References
"Address Before A Joint Session Of The Congress Reporting On The State Of The Union | The American Presidency Project". Presidency.Ucsb.Edu, 2021, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-reporting-the-state-the-union-2.
"Air Florida Flight 90". En.Wikipedia.Org, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90.
"Remembering Lenny Skutnik, American Hero. - WHYY". WHYY, 2021, https://whyy.org/articles/remembering-lenny-skutnik-american-hero/.
"Man In The Water" Ordinary Heroes - Lenny Skutnik. 2011, https://www.santiagohs.org/apps/video/watch.jsp?v=24055. Accessed 4 Mar 2021.
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