ABSTRACT
The weather conditions at the time Air Florida Flight 90 crashed on takeoff from Washington National Airport (now called Reagan Washington National Airport) were not good. In fact, snow had been falling most of the day fluctuating in intensity from Moderate, to Heavy, to Moderate, to Light, and again to Moderate intensity for several hours. A review of the voice recorder while Flight 90 waited for takeoff showed that as the crew read the after start checklist, the captain responded, "Off" to the first officer's callout of the checklist item "Anti-ice." Many times, the captain of a flight can be caught up in stress-related issues because of the effects of applied pressure. Some of that pressure can even be self-imposed. If we think back on the events leading up to the crash of Air Florida Flight 90, we can see that if action had been taken earlier, it would have been easier for the captain to say "No.".
