Lenny Skutnik
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Martin L. (Lenny) Skutnik III was a 28-year-old office worker for a federal agency who acted heroically following the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 on January 13, 1982.
Seventy-eight people lost their lives in the disaster, but five survived due to heroic actions such as those of Lenny Skutnik, who was commended by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during his State of the Union speech later that month.
Skutnik was quoted as saying "I couldn't just stand there and do nothing to help."
The day had brought one of the worst blizzards in history to Washington, D.C. At 3:59 p.m. EST, the twin-engine Boeing 737 was cleared for takeoff and began rumbling down the runway, but ice on its wings hampered its lift. It finally took off but was unable to gain altitude, and at 4:01 p.m. EST it crashed into the Rochambeau span of 14th Street Bridge complex, plunging through the 1 inch thick ice into the Potomac River. Only 5 people survived the accident, as all but the tail section was quickly submerged.
News cameramen watched helplessly from the bridge, being only able to record the disaster for the rest of the world to see. Suddenly hope arrived in the form of a park police helicopter, trailing a lifeline reaching to the outstretched arms of the victims in the water below. At approximately 4:20 p.m. EST, Eagle 1, a United States Park Police Bell 206 Jetranger helicopter, N2PP, based at Anacostia Park in Washington DC arrived and at great risk assisted the survivors, at one time getting so close to the ice-clogged river that the helicopter's skids went beneath the surface of the water.
As the helicopter crew lowered a line to the survivors for towing them to shore, one survivor, later identified as Arland D. Williams Jr., was still attached to part of the plane. He repeatedly passed the line to others, After lifting and towing two badly injured passengers to shore one at a time, when the helicopter returned, an attempt was made to use 2 lines to haul 3 more, and two fell back into the icy water.
By then one of these was too weak to grab the line, so a bystander, government office assistant Lenny Skutnik, stripped off his coat and boots, and in short sleeves, dove into the icy water, and swam out to assist her. The helicopter then proceeded to where the other had fallen, and paramedic Melvin E. (Gene) Windsor dropped from the safety of the helicopter into the water to attach a line to her. By the time the helicopter crew could return for Arland Williams, he and the airplane's tail section had disappeared beneath the icy surface. His body and those of the other occupants were later recovered. According to the coroner, Arland Williams who passed the lifeline to others was the only plane passenger to die by drowning.
Lenny Skutnik received the United States Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal and the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal for his efforts.
Thirteen days after the crash, Lenny Skutnik was in the House gallery next to the First Lady attending the State of the Union speech at the invitation of President Ronald Reagan, and his heroism was mentioned in the speech.
This was the first example of this rhetorical flourish in the State of the Union address, but not the last. As the first example, persons invited into the gallery for the purpose of being mentioned favorably has caused such persons used to illustrate a point to be referred to by presidential speechwriters as Lenny Skutniks. Such special guests are seated during the course of the speech and the area of seating is sometimes known as the "Heroes' Gallery".
List of Lenny Skutniks
- 1982
- Lenny Skutnik, the namesake of the term for the special guests at the SOTU. He was an office worker who jumped into the icy Potomac River to try to save the victims of the 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 plane crash. President Ronald Reagan pointed to him as an example of the American ideal in his first Address, which was only two weeks after the accident. Immediately before noting Skutnik, Reagan first pointed out Jeremiah Denton, a former U.S. prisoner of war held in Vietnam and a then-Senator. Denton's role is often unnoted, perhaps because Denton, as a Senator, had not been brought in specifically as a prop and thus not a Skutnik.
- 1983
- No Skutnik was used, with Reagan pointing out the members of the Commission on Social Security and calling for recognition of Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker and Speaker Tip O'Neill
- 1984
- Reagan pointed to Sergeant Stephen Trujillo, a medic during the Invasion of Grenada in October 1983. He also mentions Rev. Bruce Ritter, founder of Covenant House for abused children, and Dr. Charles Carson, who was paralyzed and trying to develop computer-controlled walking.
- 1999
- Sammy Sosa, a right fielder in Major League Baseball who had just beaten Roger Maris' home run record, and Rosa Parks, an icon of the U.S. civil rights movement, were mentioned by Bill Clinton
- 2004
- Adnan Pachachi, the President of the Iraqi Governing Council, was pointed to by George W. Bush
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