American Airlines Flight 587
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|) | }} }}| Passengers=251| Crew=9| Survivors=0| }} American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, New York shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 12, 2001.
The Airbus A300-600 jet, registered |) | }} }}, which left JFK bound for Santo Domingo's Las Americas International Airport, crashed at 9:17 A.M. local time. All 260 people on board were killed — 2 flight crew members, 7 flight attendants, and 251 passengers (including 5 unticketed infants sitting on their parents' laps) — along with five people on the ground, making it one of the deadliest crashes on American soil.
Because of the location of the crash, and its occurrence just two months after the September 11, 2001 attacks, many people initially believed it was caused by terrorism. These claims were supported by eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen the aircraft on fire shortly before the crash. [Flight 587 Witnesses Speak Out At Wave Sponsored Meeting] The Wave, July 22, 2002 The official National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) [report] of October 26, 2004 stated the cause of the crash was the overuse of the rudder to counter wake turbulence. The fire was the result of fuel leakage as the engines separated from the wings, or engine compressor surges.
The A300, which took off just minutes after a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 on the same runway, flew into the larger jet's wake, an area of very turbulent air. The co-pilot, Sten Molin, attempted to keep the plane upright with the rudder, but pushed the rudder too far to one side and then overcorrected too far to the other. The strength of the air flowing against the moving rudder stressed the aircraft's vertical stabilizer and eventually snapped it off entirely, causing the aircraft to lose control and crash. According to the NTSB, the crash would not have occurred but for the co-pilot's use of the rudder.
Airbus and American are currently disputing the extent to which both parties are responsible for the disaster. American charges that the crash was mostly Airbus's fault, because the A300 was designed with unusually sensitive rudder controls. Most aircraft require increased pressure on the rudder pedals to achieve the same amount of rudder control at a higher speed. The Airbus A300 and later A310 do not operate on a fly-by-wire system, instead using conventional mechanical flight controls. The NTSB determined that "because of its high sensitivity, the A300-600 rudder control system is susceptible to potentially hazardous rudder pedal inputs at higher speeds."["NTSB Press Release".] October 26, 2004. Accessed December 6 2005.
Airbus charges that the crash was mostly American's fault, because the airline did not train its pilots properly about the characteristics of the rudder. Aircraft tail fins are designed to withstand full rudder in one direction at maneuvering speed. However, they are not usually designed to withstand an abrupt shift in rudder from one direction to the other. Most American pilots believed that the tail fin could withstand any rudder movement at maneuvering speed.
Flight 587 no longer exists. The flight route designation of flights between Kennedy Airport and Las Americas Airport now are under Flight 619, Flight 635, and Flight 789.
Trivia
- New Jersey Lottery holds two Pick-3 lottery drawings per day, and on the day of the crash, the numbers selected for the evening drawing were 5-8-7. The afternoon drawing was 5-7-8. So many people chose the combination for the evening draw that the prize was $16 for each 'winner', whereas $275 is the typical straight bet payout for Pick-3.[587 Is Winning Number in N.J. Lottery], Fox News, November 13, 2001
- Not only was this the second American Airlines Jet to crash after takeoff from JFK, but the second to crash from rudder-related problems. On March 1, 1962, American Airlines Flight 1, a Boeing 707-123 crashed into Jamaica Bay, killing all 95 onboard, after a wiring fault in the rudder caused uncomanded rudder deflection, resulting in loss of control.
- Due to the proximity to 9/11, the BBC once again stopped regular programming on BBC1 in favour of BBC News 24's coverage of the air crash. Normal programming was resumed once it was made clear this was not a terrorist action.
See also
References
External links
- [Satellite view of crash site from Google Maps]
- [BBC documentary on crash]
- [NTSB - American Airlines Flight 587], Official site for the National Transportation and Safety Board investigative hearings on the crash
- [Debunking of rumors about terrorists causing the crash] (from Snopes.com)
- [Images of the crash scene]
- [Alternative theory] suggesting a sabotaged thrust reverser caused the crash
- [Flight 587 Memorial Project]
- [Meteorology and Wake Vortex Influence on American Airlines FL-587 Accident]
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