Survivor of D.C. Crash Relives Escape from Death Despite 60 Broken Bones After Plane Plunged into Potomac in 1982 (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Joseph Stiley; Air Florida Flight 90 crash in the Potomac River in January 1982.Photo:David Hume Kennerly/Getty; Mark Reinstein/Getty

David Hume Kennerly/Getty; Mark Reinstein/Getty

On Jan. 13, 1982, an Air Florida flight leaving what’s now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport  (formerly Washington National Airport) scraped over the 14th Street Bridge upon take off and plummeted into the icy Potomac River, killing 78 passengers, crew members and impacted motorists.

Onlyfive of those aboard the aircraft survived the tragedy, including Joseph Stiley.

On Wednesday, Jan. 29, an American Airlines passenger planecollided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopterand crashed into the same body of water where Stiley sustained life-altering injuries and nearly drowned, but somehow made it out of the Potomac.

In the wake of the most recent disaster,there were no survivors. There were 60 passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines plane and three soldiers in the helicopter.

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Joseph Stiley after the 1982 plane crash.AP Photo/Dennis Cook

AP Photo/Dennis Cook

“The memories just make me realize how lucky I am. I did what I had to do and it worked,” he tells PEOPLE exclusively one day after the mid-air collision. “I also say to myself, ‘Joe, you’ve analyzed and you made a decision, and then it kept you alive.’ "

As a licensed pilot himself, Stiley was particularly equipped to handle the 1982 crash when it happened. Thanks to his extensive military training and in-flight expertise, he knew how to properly brace for impact from seat 18C, as he remembers specifically. He also suspected something was off before the plane even took off.

“I was a busy flight instructor and I specialize in teaching aeronautics and instruments … I went through a survival school for pilots,” he explains. “I knew we were in deep s— before we were off the runway.”

TheNational Transportation Safety Boarddetermined several probable causes for the Air Florida Flight 90 crash. A report pointed to the crew’s failure to “use engine anti-ice during ground operation and takeoff” and “decision to take off with snow/ice on the airfoil surfaces of the aircraft.” The NTSB also cited the flight captain’s “failure to reject the takeoff during the early stage when his attention was called to anomalous engine instrument readings.”

US Coast Guard tugboat Capstan in the Potomac River on Jan. 15, 1982 to aid in the salvage of Air Florida Flight 90.Mark Reinstein/Getty

Mark Reinstein/Getty

Additionally, the report outlined contributing factors such as the prolonged delay between de-icing the plane and its takeoff and the crew’s limited experience operating in winter conditions.

In January 1982, Stiley was working a corporate role at General Telephone & Electronics, and he was flying to Florida on business alongside his assistant, Patricia Felch. When the plane started to falter, he told her to follow his lead and position herself just as he did.

“I wrapped myself in a little ball and got down and put my back against the seat in front of me with my hands over my head,” Stiley recalls. “All the fingers on my left hand and a couple of them on my right hand got broken, so it was a good thing I had my fingers where they were.”

Both he and Felch survived the accident, but those around them didn’t have the same knowledge to come out as lucky.

Bettmann/Getty

When Stiley bowed his head to protect himself in the crash-landing, he remembers seeing fellow passengers sitting stiffly upright and gripping the sides of their seats. “I know their necks snapped instantly when we hit,” he says.

Flight attendant Kelly Duncan was 22 when she survived the crash. On the 30th anniversary of the crash, she spoke to theSeattle Timesabout the spiritual awakening she experienced during the 20 minutes she spent in the chilling waters of the Potomac River.

Air Florida flight attendant Kelly Duncan after the crash.Bettmann/Getty

After some months away to recover, she did return to work for Air Florida, though she eventually left the job to study early childhood education. As of the 2012 interview, she worked at Christ Fellowship in Miami.

Stiley, on the other hand, has been reluctant to return to aviation since the crash. “I have only flown maybe three times commercially since then because I don’t trust airline pilots, especially the ones who were not military trained,” he tells PEOPLE.

Generally, Stiley hasn’t much kept up with his fellow survivors, especially since he, Tirado and Duncan are the only ones still living today. According toThe Guardian, survivor Bert Hamilton died of a heart attack in 2002, and Stiley’s associate Felch was later diagnosed with cancer and died years after their plane went down.

“She didn’t know she had cancer at the time of the crash,” says Stiley.

Survivors Joseph Stiley, Patricia Felch, Bert Hamilton and civilian hero Roger Olian in Washington, D.C. in November 1982.David Hume Kennerly/Getty

David Hume Kennerly/Getty

He once went back to the site of the accident in honor of an anniversary, but Stiley has otherwise kept his space. He stopped talking about what happened soon after, having become fatigued answering the same questions over and over again. If people wanted to know what he thought, he would tell them to look it up in a newspaper.

“They were going to amputate because of the nature of the damage, and I’m sure glad they didn’t,” says Stiley.

Joseph Stiley after the 1982 plane crash.Frank Johnson, The Washington Post via Getty

Frank Johnson, The Washington Post via Getty

“My heart goes out to all the families and it goes out to those that died, but of course, they don’t know that,” he tells PEOPLE. “My biggest concern now is for the probable children that have just lost a parent … and of course the spouses.”

Each time Stiley mentions the lives lost on Wednesday night, he can’t help but appreciate the fact that he was able to prevent a few deaths — including his own — when it happened to him.

“I was alert to what was happening and I figured out what to do and did it, and I brought somebody else out, and I brought [out] a lady that was sitting beside me,” he continues. “I remind myself of that sometimes.”

source: people.com