American Airline Jet Skids Off landing
Twitter
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Stumble
Reddit
An American Airlines jet skidded off the ending of a runway while landing during a cloudburst Tuesday night in Kingston, Jamaica, critically injuring two passengers.
The Boeing 737-800, which is one of the airline’s latest jet models, had 148 passengers on board and six crew members, the airline said. There were no losses, but a number of people were taken away from the sight for treatment.
The accident highlights the challenges of maintenance big jets from running off slick runways in bad weather.
Opening reports indicated Flight 331 encountered thunderstorms en route from Miami to Kingston, and some passengers were saying the jet skidded after touchdown and there was panic in the cabin. The jet’s fuselage cracked, both engines broke off from the impact and the left main landing gear collapsed.
The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team of investigators, including some industry experts, to the scene Wednesday.
Five years earlier, an American Airlines jet crashed in Little Rock, Ark., killing 11 people, after the co-pilot called to call off the loom because the plane was too far off-course just seconds before land. But investigators dogged that the captain opted to continue to try to land. The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft hydroplaned down a rain-slick runway during a shower and crashed into material light stanchions at the periphery of a canal.
