Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Fire and Rescue Department

On November 1, 1949 a Douglas C-54 Skymaster operated by Eastern Air Lines as flight 537 was coming in to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) when a Bolivian P-38 Lightning operating from nearby Bolling Air Force Base was declaring an emergency due to erratic operation of one of the engines.[5] The two aircraft collided mid-air, killing all 51 passengers and 4 crewmembers on board and leaving the P-38 pilot with serious injuries.[5]

The world's largest airshow of the time was held over a period of 9 days at Dulles Airport from May 27-June 4 of 1972, nicknamed Transpo '72. The event included all forms of transportation, including high speed rail demos and jumbo jets of the time. During the air show events, three separate fatal incidents occurred. The first involved a hang glider kite accident killing the pilot.[6] The second incident during an aircraft race when a sport pilot crashed into a pylon and careened into the woods on the far side of the airstrip from the spectators killing him. The last incident was the first fatal accident for the United States Air Force Thunderbirds when Major Joe Howard lost power while flying his McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and ejected successfully from the crash. However, Maj. Howard was blown into the fireball from the crash, causing his parachute to melt and Maj. Howard to receive fatal injuries from the fall.

On January 13, 1982 Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, clipped the 14th Street Bridge before crashing into the Potomac River shortly after takeoff from National Airport.[7] Of the 74 passengers and 5 crew members on board, only 4 passengers and 1 flight attendant survived the crash. In addition, due to heavy traffic on the bridge at the time from a snow storm impacting the region, four motorists in vehicles on the bridge were killed.[7] The snow storm, and traffic congestion were noted to delay response and impede access of response resources throughout the region. Due to the deficiencies noted in the response in icy waters, the department improved their River Rescue capabilities with airboats capable of operating on surface ice of the river.[7]

On September 11, 2001, a team of five al-Qaeda affiliated hijackers took control of American Airlines Flight 77, en route from Dulles International to Los Angeles International Airport, and deliberately crashed it into The Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. EDT as part of the September 11 attacks.[8] All 64 people on the airliner were killed as were 125 people who were in the building. The impact of the plane severely damaged the structure of the building and caused its partial collapse.[9] The MWAA Fire & Rescue Department units from Fire Station 301 were among the first units on scene at the Pentagon, and staff & equipment from both airports operated at the incident scene for several days past the initial incident operations.