This TV-movie about the January 13, 1982 crash of Air Florida Flight #90 into the Potomac river is for the most part a well-made docudrama surrounding many of the people involved in the story. Legal hurdles prevented some stories from being depicted, in particular that of Lenny Skutnik who dove into the river to rescue Priscilla Tirado from drowning. Skutnik felt that any movie about the event was exploitative and thus refused to let his story be dramatized. His scene is confined to a look-alike actor (billed only as "Man On Shore" in the original credits) jumping in at the appropriate moment. However, compensation is offered by focusing on the more neglected story of mental hospital worker Roger Olian (Richard Masur) who first swam out to give the trapped passengers enocouragement before the helicopters arrived. His story is as remarkable as Skutnik's ultimately and the TV movie allowed those of us who weren't familiar with his efforts to see how there was more than one hero that day who jumped into the Potomac to provide help.
The docudrama approach with no special effects of the plane crash managed to work well because there is a desire to keep things as authentic as possible, which includes a large use of actual news footage of the rescue operations, which is blended in seamlessly with the scenes of actors in the tank. Gil Melle's score is a bit awkward and the most dated aspect of the production, but still has some hauntingly beautiful sections when he gets away from the synths.
A few postscripts to the story of the survivors. Nikki Felch's marriage to David Frank did not last and she sadly died of pancreatic cancer in 2002, just two weeks after Burt Hamilton also passed away. Joe Stiley was forced into early retirement by his injuries and lives in Washington state. Priscilla Tirado has not granted an interview in more than ten years and remains traumatized by the events that saw her lose her husband and baby. By far, the happiest story has been that of Flight Attendant Kelly Duncan (who is given the least attention of any of the survivors in the movie, with greater focus coming on the other two flight attendants who were killed) who today teaches at a Christian pre-school and has three children.