The 1982 crash happened moments after takeoff in icy conditions in roughly the same place as Wednesday's collision between a jet and Army helicopter.

The deadly crash in the Potomac after an American Eagle jet collided with a military helicopter has stirred memories of a long-ago tragedy in Washington, D.C. An Air Florida flight taking off en route to Fort Lauderdale crashed into a bridge and tumbled into the icy Potomac in January 1982.

I don’t know of any other accident that has had this amount of impact on aviation but also in other industries,” one expert said of the 1982 crash.

The devastating Air Florida Flight 90 crash on Jan. 13, 1982 and subsequent rescue efforts in the ice-covered Potomac River transfixed Washington and the nation

Daniel Izzo, a retired Navy SEAL master chief, has conducted water rescues after plane crashes and says winter conditions in the Potomac River make the situation even more dangerous. "It always seems like something like this happens at the worst possible time," Izzo said. "It happened at night. It happened in January."

A Boeing 737 crashed into a bridge over the river on Jan. 13, 1982, just after taking off from Washington National Airport in a snowstorm.

The temperature of the Potomac River was hovering just above freezing around the time of Wednesday’s collision, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, potentially complicating efforts to rescue passengers.

Several federal and state investigations have been launched after an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and fell into the Potomac River,

While some survived, 78 people died in the deadly 1982 crash.

One of the pilots of the passenger jet involved in a mid-air collision in Washington, D.C. was a native of New York but grew up in Florida, where he learned to fly planes, according to records and statements from those who knew him.

Divers are expected to return to the Potomac River as part of the recovery and investigation after the United States’ deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.