Posted on 12/23/2009 3:08:35 AM PST by Entrepreneur
FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, December 22, 2009, American Airlines Flight 331, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, overran the runway on landing at Kingston, Jamaica's Norman Manley International Airport. The flight originated out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, operated into Miami International Airport, and then operated into Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport.
Preliminary reports indicate there are no critical injuries. The aircraft was carrying 148 passengers and a crew of six.
"The care of our passengers and crew members is our highest priority and we will offer all the assistance necessary," said Gerard Arpey, American's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
American Airlines is in direct contact with officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration and is cooperating fully with appropriate authorities. American Airlines cannot speculate as to possible causes of the incident. At this point, no additional details can be confirmed.
Anyone who believes they have family members or friends aboard Flight 331 may contact American Airlines at the following toll-free numbers: (800) 245-0999 for calls originating in the United States; (800) 872-2881 for calls originating in Jamaica. Family members from other locations outside the U.S. may contact American through the AT&T Direct Access system. Callers should dial the local AT&T Access telephone number, which can be found at www.usa.att.com/traveler, for the country from which they are calling. Once in the AT&T system, callers can then dial American toll-free at (800) 245-0999. Family members in Canada, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin islands can call the (800) 245-0999 number directly. Non-family members are asked not to call those numbers so the lines can be kept available for those who truly need them.
SOURCE: American Airlines
Updated...
AMERICAN ACTIVATES ITS FAMILY ASSISTANCE CARE TEAMS TO ASSIST THOSE AFFECTED BY THE INCIDENT INVOLVING FLIGHT #331 Release #3 @ 4:35 a.m. U.S. Central Standard Time
PRNewswire
FORT WORTH, Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ — On Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009, at approximately 9:22 p.m. Central Standard Time, American Airlines Flight 331, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, sustained damage when it overran the runway on landing at Kingston, Jamaica’s Norman Manley International Airport. The flight originated out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, operated into Miami International Airport, and then operated into Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport.
American Airlines has confirmed that two passengers were admitted for observation and treatment at area hospitals; all other passengers that had been taken to local hospitals were treated and released. The aircraft was carrying 148 passengers and a crew of six. American has activated its family assistance CARE Teams to immediately help those affected by this incident.
“The care of our passengers and crew members remains our highest priority, and we are grateful for the professionalism of our crew members who safely evacuated the aircraft,” said Gerard Arpey, Chairman and CEO of American Airlines.
Anyone who believes they have family members or friends aboard Flight 331 may contact American Airlines at the following toll-free numbers: (800) 245-0999 for calls originating in the United States; for calls originating in Jamaica, use (800) 872-2881. Family members from other locations outside the U.S. may contact American through the AT&T Direct Access system. Callers should dial the local AT&T Access telephone number, which can be found at www.usa.att.com/traveler for the country from which they are calling. Once in the AT&T system, callers can then dial American toll-free at (800) 245-0999. Family members in Canada, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin islands can call the (800) 245-0999 number directly. Non-family members are asked not to call those numbers so the lines can be kept available for those who truly need them.
American is posting the latest information on its Web site, at www.aa.com, and company representatives are available for media inquiries.
Current AMR Corp. news releases can be accessed on the Internet.
The address is: http://www.aa.com
I figured there had to be more to the story. Accuweather.com says the plane was landing during heavy rain.
Here is the thread from Airliners.Net (super aircraft/airline enthusiast central)
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4650253/
WRONG THREAD!!!!!
SORRY!!!
Here is the correct one:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4649947/
Prelimary Report is that the plane went through the perimeter fence and onto the beach and broke into two
As always, early news reports are inaccurate:
Ninety-one people were taken to a hospital Tuesday evening after an American Airlines plane overran a runway near Kingston, Jamaica, during bad weather and crashed into a fence, officials said.
None of the injuries were critical, officials said.
Flight 331 from Miami, Florida, was carrying 148 passengers plus six crew members when it landed in Kingston, according to a statement from the airline.
The incident took place around 10:20 p.m., Omar Lawrence, operations coordinator at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.
Tim Smith, an American Airlines spokesman, denied reports that the Boeing 737 broke into pieces but did say that there was damage to the fuselage, some cracks and the landing gear on one side of the plane collapsed.
“The care of our passengers and crew members is our highest priority ,and we will offer all the assistance necessary,” said Gerard Arpey, the airline’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Jamaican Information Minister Daryl Vaz said most of the 91 injured passengers had been released from hospitals. Four passengers may have to stay overnight at the hospital, Vaz said.
“The majority of injuries are broken bones and of course cuts and bruises and badly shaken up,” Vaz said.
The flight originated from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the Washington, D.C., area before landing in Miami and then heading to Jamaica, the airline said.
A Radio Jamaica reporter, Kirk Abraham, said it had been raining in the area when the plane failed to stop and ran into the fence past the end of the runway.
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All in all, a rather minor deal
Either way, the plane ended up on the beach in two pieces and the Jamaicans were not exactly prepared for a disaster. How many "serious" injuries is uncertain. There do not appear to be any fatalities.
Now they will spend the next week or two trying to find someone to blame and, therefore, to sue. The concept of “accidents happen” no longer exists...
The cause will be “pilot error”. When there is nothing to blame, it’s always the pilot’s fault.
/mark
Leni
The piolot decided to land in marginal conditions, and hit a very bad downward ground effect, likely, at the last moment before landing and could not correct.
It hit and BOUNCED according to passangers and then when it came down a second time the forece collpsed one landing gear, making the plan land long. Lucky there was no fire, probably because of the heavy rain.
The pilot propbably should not have been cleared to land.
Could have been alot worse if it went into the water.
Overall, lucky passangers and crew.
It’s the least they can do, you’d think they would’ve learned something from the AA 1420 Little Rock runway overrun.
According to our news guy if there was a lot of standing water hydroplaning could be a factor. The pilot did tell the passengers it was going to be a bumpy ride just before landing.
Well, it was raining hard at the time so it must be caused by Global Warming. Sue Al Gore.
I guess I should be careful, but this has some real parallels to Little Rock and Toronto. I can’t help thinking the pilot had a bad case of get-there-itis. Even if the aircrew wasn’t adequately warned about weather in the area due to ground weather equipment not being good, it’s hard to understand him making the final go-ahead to land when he got there. We’ll find out, I’m probably being too much of a Monday morning quarterback here.
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