Airbus A300B4-605R N14053

Summary

On 12 November 2001 at about 14:16 local time, a Airbus A300B4-605R registered N14053 was involved in an accident near Belle Harbor, New York, United States. 265 people were on board and 260 died. 5 people on the ground also died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

12 November 2001 at 14:16

Classification

Accident

Location

Belle Harbor, New York, United States

Nearest airport

John F. Kennedy International (JFK)

Coordinates

40.5792, -73.8405

Aircraft

Airbus A300B4-605R

Registration

N14053

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

New York City → Santo Domingo

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA02MA001

260 people died, including 5 on the ground.

the in-flight separation of the vertical stabilizer as a result of the loads beyond ultimate design that were created by the first officer's unnecessary and excessive rudder pedal inputs. Contributing to these rudder pedal inputs were characteristics of the Airbus A300-600 rudder system design and elements of the American Airlines Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. On November 12, 2001, about 0916:15 eastern standard time, American Airlines flight 587, an Airbus Industrie A300-605R, N14053, crashed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York. Flight 587 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight to Las Americas International Airport, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with 2 flight crewmembers, 7 flight attendants, and 251 passengers aboard the airplane. The airplane's vertical stabilizer and rudder separated in flight and were found in Jamaica Bay, about 1 mile north of the main wreckage site. The airplane's engines subsequently separated in flight and were found several blocks north and east of the main wreckage site. All 260 people aboard the airplane and 5 people on the ground were killed, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. Flight 587 was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.