McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (MD-82) N224AA

Summary

On 5 June 1996 at about 23:03 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (MD-82) registered N224AA, operated by American Airlines, was involved in an incident near Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. 146 people were on board and 5 had minor injuries. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

5 June 1996 at 23:03

Classification

Incident

Location

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Nearest airport

Albuquerque International (ABQ)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (MD-82)

Registration

N224AA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

American Airlines

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Dfw Airport → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW96IA237

5 people had minor injuries.

the flightcrew's inadvertent encounter with windshear at low altitude. Factors were: variable winds, high density altitude, and the FAA's inadequate location/height of the LLWAS sensor.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flightcrew initiated windshear recovery procedures during the final landing phase when they detected a 30 knot loss of airspeed and received a cockpit warning; however, the airplane continued descending and the plane's tail collided with the runway. The functioning North sensor low level windshear alert system (LLWAS) did not detect and/or advise of a windshear condition. The location and height of the sensor did not conform to FAA guidelines. The temperature/dew point spread was 81 degrees F. and the density altitude was 8,900 feet. The reported winds were from 270 degrees at 12 knots. The flightcrew was monitoring the tower frequency as directed when approach control received a windshear pilot information report (PIREP). Air traffic control (ATC) policy does not require the PIREP to be passed to the tower controller. The PIREP was not received by the crew. The Flight Data Recorder (FDR) revealed that at a speed of 150 knots and the radar altimeter at 152.7 feet, the longitudinal acceleration decreased from 0.010 to -0.049 (radar altimeter 134.3 feet) and the engine N1's decreased from 62.1% N1 to 43.8%. Within the next 5 seconds, the airspeed decreased to 134.3 knots (radar altimeter 41.7 feet) and the pitch attitude increased to 3.2 degrees and N1 to 70.95%. Two seconds later, the airplane collided with the runway as the airspeed decreased to 122 knots (radar altimeter 8.6 feet) with the pitch attitude at 7 degrees and N1 at 89.8%.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.