Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac

This is a movie that should be put on video. It is very well done and very accurate. I haven't seen it since it originally aired on network television, but I still remember it very well. I remember the character played by Donnelly Rhodes kept passing his opportunity to escape to other survivors. It was heart-breaking to watch that play out. I remember Richard Masur's character trying to swim out to assist the survivors. I remember the woman who lost her husband and baby trying to find her will to survive. I was young when it aired and I remember people making a big deal about it the days leading up to it because it was so effective and accurate. I know I'd love to see it again.

I'm a big fan of disaster movies. The more preposterous and over-the-top, the better! You know, "Airport"-style, or "The Towering Inferno". Of course, it's a lot less fun when it's a half movie/half documentary-drama about a tragedy that really occurred; - especially when made only two years after the incident and still fresh in the mind of everybody. "Flight 90" isn't the type of film you watch for entertainment, but to learn something more about what happened, or out of respect for the casualties and the families they left behind.

"Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac" is a retelling of the drama that occurred on 13th of January 1982, when - during terrible wintery weather conditions - a Boeing airliner crashed into an interstate bridge and sunk in the ice-cold Potomac River in Washington D. C. 74 of the 78 passengers and crewmembers lost their lives, and another 4 unsuspecting motorists on the interstate did as well. Since it's a serene production, and made for television, the film doesn't show much of the actual crash but focuses on character drawings (mostly of the few survivors) and the complicated rescue mission. It's a worthwhile film and it succeeds in passing the message that every victim of every incident has a name worth remembering and background story worth telling.

I was interested, since I was on that flight.

I didn't see ANY resemblance between me and the actor who portrayed me.

I was aware of the differences, in fact, between what was presented, and the actual events of the day.

What I learned = how my memory has observed actual experiences, how it has observed " distorted facts", what I learned from media, how pain medicine acts on a victim, how the media exploits victims, with little or no regard for their immediate needs, in the aftermath of a disaster, ... I had MULTIPLE reporters who lied to the hospital switchboard operator, claiming to be my Mother, in order to talk to me, how they crowded into my small hospital room in order to stick microphones in my face, as soon as I regained consciousness, how they published a picture claiming that a woman who was standing beside my bed was my wife (which she was not), ... I have learned to despise those low life animals!!!!

I don't think the movie caught any of those events.

So, to me, I thought the movie was exploitative, and don't recommend it to my friends. There is plenty of live video available. Also, I have been interviewed often, in that era, and say what I had to say, for anyone interested.

Joe Stiley (still kicking, at 83, living where it never freezes, in Southern Mexico).

I remembered the crash vividly and how there were only five survivors. I also remember this movie very well. The cast was pictured sitting around, looking very serious, holding life preservers and flotation rings. There was no scene of the crash, we see a man in a car looking up at the unseen plane, then the screen goes black and we hear the crash; fade to commercial. Comes back and we see people running to the bridge and the edge of the river.

Before the crash, we are handed the stories of Jamie Rose, Richard Backus, Richard Masur, Donelly Rhodes, Barry Corbin, Stephen Macht and Dinah Manoff. The only survivor we are not told about is Kelly Duncan, played by Kathleen Wilhote. This crash was the one that began pointing out the survivors came from the end of the plane, and all we see of Kelly Duncan is that she is seated in the very rear of the plane. The makers of this film were too eager to tell this story, something that, thanks to the Amy Fisher movies, we have hopefully seen the last of. Because of this, the part of rescuer Lenny Skutnik was reduced to an absolute minimum with no emphasis whatsoever. Skutnik felt the movie was exploitive of the survivors, among them, Prisilla Tirado, played by Dinah Manoff, whom he had rescued. Therefore the part of Richard Masur came into prominence. An outstanding moment is when relations are trying to find out if their loved ones have survived. We see Ken Olin, who knows his fiancée cannot have lived. The nurse asks who he is waiting for. He tells her 'Nikki'. She replies the female survivors are Kelly and Prisilla and Pat.

He leaps to his feet and says she goes by the name Pat. From there, we venture to Corbin's survival and learn that Pat Finch, played by Jeannetta Arnette would walk down the aisle at her wedding one year later. Except for the Skutnik problem, this could have been an enlightening movie.

I remember seeing this when it first aired. I thought it would be another junk TV movie, but it was a little above average. I recall thinking how cold that water must have been for the survivors and if I could withstand it. I got a chill in the beginning right before the plane went down. The pilot said to the co-pilot something like,"Were going down", and the response was ,"I know it." Heres another movie that should be on DVD. This is TV queen Dinah Manoff at her finest.They used real footage of the plane crash inter-cut with the movie. I'd like to see it again. Maybe it will pop up on a cable channel. These old 80s TV movies are hard to come by.