Joseph Stiley, now 86, used his in-flight experience to avoid death over four decades before a helicopter collided with a passenger flight in the same area
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.
Only five of those aboard the aircraft survived the tragedy , including Joseph Stiley.
On Wednesday, Jan. 29, an American Airlines passenger plane collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter and crashed into the same body of water where Stiley sustained life-altering injuries and nearly drowned, but somehow made it out of the Potomac…