Flight 587 American Airlines

The flight 587 was a flight chartered by American Airlines on a Airbus A300 to carry out the connection between New York and Saint-Domingue in Dominican Republic. The plane was crushed the November 12th 2001 shortly after its takeoff of the John-F International airport. - Kennedy, on a residential district of the Queens. The 260 occupants of the plane (9 team members and 251 passengers) and 5 people on the ground were killed.

Plane

The plane was a Airbus A300B 4-605R builds in 1987 and registered N14053. At the time of the accident it added up 37550 hours of flight for 14934 cycles and was propelled by two engines General Electric CF6-80C2A5.

Crew

the commander : ED States, 42 years, 8.050 hours of flight including 1.723 on A300.
the copilot : Sten Molin, 34 years, 4.403 hours of flight including 1.835 on A300.
Personal of cabin : 7 people (Deborah Fontakis, Barbara Giannasca, Wilmer Gonzalez, Joseph Lopes, Michele Millets, Carol Palm, William Valdespino).

Circumstances of the accident

Flight 587 was authorized to roll since the door of loading to the track 31L towards 9:00, local time. It followed a Boeing 747-400 of the Japan Airlines which took off right before him, to 9:12. With 9:13 the controller warned the crew of flight 587 of the risks of Vortex of wake caused by the imposing mass of the 747 and authorized takeoff. The commander gave the orders of the plane to the copilot so that it carries out takeoff. With 9:14 the plane was aligned on the runway and sprang, 1 minute and 45 seconds after the 747 precedent. Theoretically, there should not be less than two minutes between each takeoff, to precisely leave time to turbulences to dissipate itself. These 15 seconds will have terrible consequences.

After having returned the Gear landing, the crew accepted the instruction to follow the same trajectory of exit as the 747, by a turn on the left. With 9:15 the pilot contacted the control of New York and received the authorization to climb with 13 000 feet. At this time, the crew understood a series of noises probably caused by a vortex of wake. 15 seconds later, with 9:15 min36s, the plane was deviated on the line. The rudders were actuated violently from left to right. With 9:15 min51s, a second vortex, more powerful, struck the plane. From 9:15 min54s the copilot requested “the maximum power”. There was again a movement from left to right on the rudder and there were then a series of noises and a great bang when the rudder was brought back to bottom on the right. The vertical stabilizer had just separated from the plane and the Airbus plunged towards the ground since an altitude of approximately 2900 feet (870 meters). During the descent the engines separated from the wings and the plane was crushed with 9:16 on a residential district of the Queens. The flight will have lasted 2 minutes and 24 seconds.

Assessment

Surviving: no
Dead: 265 (251 passengers, 9 team members, 5 people killed on the ground).
the plane is destroyed with the impact

Inquire

The crash landing occurred two months after the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the terrorist track was immediately evoked. Nevertheless the investigators of NTSB very quickly dismissed this assumption by hearing the first testimonys and by analyzing the contents of the block boxes.

A300 Airbus, which had taken off just after a Boeing 747 of the company Japan Airlines was engulfed in a corridor of turbulences caused by the passage of this other Boeing, more imposing. The pilot of Flight 587, Sten Molin, tried to keep his apparatus with horizontal while making use of the rudder, but the force of the air against this rudder exerted a pressure on the vertical stabilizer for finally damaging it, and causing the loss of control, then crushing.

The recordings of the parameters of flight made it possible to show that the copilot, confronted with the vortices, had actuated the Gouverne S of directions at bottom towards the line and bottom towards the left, very quickly. The aerodynamic loads exerted on the vertical Empennage were then such as they tore off it plane, making the plane unverifiable. The two engines, delivering their maximum power whereas the plane plunged towards the ground, were them also torn off wings because of the mechanical constraints.

The investigators were intrigued way in which this stabilizer, placed at the tail of the apparatus, separated, being attached to the fuselage by six points of fastener having each one two nuts, a composite fact of Material and another of Aluminum, this last connected to a screw of Titane. The analysis showed that the screws and aluminum were intact, but not the composite material. It was believed that this composite material was the cause of the crash landing, since one finds it in various parts of the apparatus, in particular the wings. However, the NTSB did not detect any anomaly of design and manufacture on the vertical stabilizer.

Report/ratio of investigation

In a report/ratio dated from the October 26th 2004, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) ruled that the cause of crushing was the excessive use of the rudder in an attempt to counter the turbulence which assigned the apparatus to this moment. Smoke and the flames are the result of a fuel leak whereas the engines separated from the wings because of a too important Load factor and of a compression of the engines.

Responsibility

Airbus and American Airlines was rejected the responsibility for the crash landing. For American Airlines, Airbus was responsible because the pedals of Palonnier making it possible to actuate the rudder were very sensitive, not very resistant to the effort, and the pilot could not thus know that it exceeded the aerodynamic constraints. For Airbus, the fault fell at American Airlines which had not sufficiently informed its pilots of this characteristic. Moreover the pilot, while trying to recover the plane by action on the rudder, had gone against the recommendations of Airbus, Boeing and of the FAA which disadvised this practice, considering it dangerous for the integrity of the planes. American Airlines declared that the pilot training had however been modified consequently in 1999.

The NTSB concludes that the accident was partly due to the copilot who had used in an inappropriate way the rudder. It foot-note also that the great sensitivity of the pedals of the swing bar was likely to cause potentially dangerous reactions of the rudder at high speed.

Simulations showed that if the pilot had not actuated so violently the rudder, the plane would have been probably left without damage the vortices.

Others

Flight 587 does not exist any more. One refers now to the road between the John-F airport. - Kennedy of New York and the Tired airport Americas de Santo Domingo by Flight 619, Flight 635 or Flight 789.
the evening of the November 12th 2001, day of the crash landing, the gaining number of the lottery " Pick-3" state of the New Jersey was, by a disastrous coincidence, 5-8-7. More people than with the practice had chosen the combination which was drawn. And as the first prize is divided according to the number of participants having chosen the gaining sequence, assembling it gained by each of gaining was hardly 16 dollars, whereas it amounts to normal weather with 275$, on average.
If the Yankees of New York had gained the seventh match of the world Séries of the major baseball a few days earlier, the Voltigeur Enrique Wilson should have taken Flight 587 to regain its native Dominican Republic. After the tragedy, the launcher of changing Mariano Rivera, whose sabotage in 9th handle of this match had cost the championship to the Yankees, is known as happy to have made lose the team, since this bad performance had saved the life of a friend.
One of the victims of the crash landing of Flight 587, Hilda Yolanda Mayol, 26 years, had survived the attacks of September 11th, a few weeks earlier, having been able to escape in time from the restaurant where she worked, at the ground floor of one of the turns of the World Trade Center.

External bonds

Documentary of the BBC on the crash landing of the Flight 587
Photographs of the scene of crushing
Rumors about the crushing of Flight 587 (Snopes.com)

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