AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 587
On November 12, 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into the neighborhood of Belle Harbor, on the Rockaway Peninsula of Queens, New York City shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport. All 260 people on board and 5 people on the ground were killed in the accident.
The Flight 587 was a scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, United States to Las Américas International Airport, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The captain on the flight was Edward States, who was hired by American Airlines in July 1985. The first officer was Sten Molin, who was the pilot flying. Molin was hired by American Airlines in March 1991. The aircraft involved was an Airbus A300B4-605R, registered as N14053. The accident aircraft was delivered new to American Airlines on July 12, 1988. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had accumulated 37 550 flight hours and 14 934 cycles. All applicable FAA airworthiness directives were accomplished on the aircraft.
The aircraft taxied to runway 31L behind a Japan Airlines Boeing 747-400 preparing for takeoff. The Japan Airlines flight was cleared for takeoff at 9:11:08 am. At 9:11:36 am, the tower controller cautioned Flight 587 about potential wake turbulence from a preceding Boeing 747, and instructed them to taxi into position and hold on runway 31L. At 9:13:28 am, the Flight 587 was cleared for takeoff and left the runway at 9:14:29 am, about 1 minute and 40 seconds after the Japan Airlines flight. The flight data recorder showed that the events leading to the crash began when the aircraft hit wake turbulence from the Japan Airlines flight in front of it at 9:15:36 am. At that moment, while in a climbing left turn, the flight crew heard a brief squeak and a rattling sound, possibly caused by wake turbulence. Few seconds later the aircraft began to yaw to the right. In response to a new wave of turbulence, the first officer alternated between moving the rudder from the right to the left and back again in quick succession, causing sideslip until the lateral force caused composite lugs that attached the vertical stabilizer to fail at 9:15:58 am. The stabilizer separated from the aircraft and fell into Jamaica Bay, about one mile north of the main wreckage site. The aircraft pitched downwards after the stabilizer loss. As the pilots struggled to control the aircraft, it went into a flat spin. During this descent the resulting aerodynamic loads separated both engines from the wings. The aircraft slammed into the ground at Newport Avenue and Beach 131st Street. In the immediate vicinity of the impact area, four homes were destroyed, three homes received substantial damage, and three homes received minor damage. In addition, the in-flight separation of the engines resulted in property damage where the engines came to rest. A gas station received minor damage as a result of the impact of the left engine, and a home and a boat (parked in the driveway) received severe damage as a result of the impact of the right engine.
The first officer attempted to stabilize the aircraft with alternating aggressive rudder inputs. The force 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. The enormous stress on the vertical stabilizer was due to the first officer's "unnecessary and excessive" rudder inputs, and not the wake turbulence caused by the Boeing 747. According to the official accident report, the first officer repeatedly moved the rudder from fully left to fully right. This caused increasing sideslip angles. The resulting hazardous sideslip angle led to extremely high aerodynamic loads that separated the vertical stabilizer. If the first officer had stopped moving the rudder at any time before the vertical stabilizer failed, the aircraft would have leveled out on its own, and the accident would have been avoided.
An American Airlines captain who flew several times with the first officer Molin on the Boeing 727 told Safety Board investigators that, during one flight sometime in 1997, the first officer had been “very aggressive” on the rudder pedals after a wake turbulence encounter. The captain stated that he did not document or report this event at the time that it occurred. The captain further stated that he remembered the event with such clarity because he had never seen any pilot other than the first officer Molin perform this maneuver. The captain indicated that the first officer’s aggressive response to wake turbulence was out of character. Specifically, the captain described the first officer’s overall flying skills as “excellent” and did not recall aggressive movements or abnormal rudder inputs during other trips with him.
In addition, the Safety Board interviewed other pilots who provided similar information about the first officer’s flying abilities. For example, one captain who flew with the first officer on the Boeing 727 stated that he was an “excellent” pilot who was “well above the norm.” This captain also stated that he never had to question the first officer’s flying ability and that he never saw the first officer fly the airplane aggressively.
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