Tom Harkin: “I want to take the time this evening to just register my deepest concern about the reopening of National Airport. I have…”

“I want to take the time this evening to just register my deepest concern about the reopening of National Airport. I have been saying for many years that it is just an accident waiting to happen. Quite frankly, we were very lucky when the Air Florida flight crashed into the bridge, in that it didn't get any higher and crash into downtown Georgetown or the Lincoln Memorial or the Jefferson Memorial. I remember that day as though it were yesterday, when that Air Florida flight took off and crashed into the 14th Street Bridge. I thought at that time--maybe if it had a little bit less ice on the wings, a little bit more power, and a few things were different--about where that plane might have come down. Whatever the reason for having National Airport located where it was in the past, I think those reasons have been shunted aside and overcome, right now at least, by what happened on September 11. Notwithstanding the act of the terrorists, I still believe National Airport is still an accident waiting to happen.”