The crash of the American Airlines flight shocked the United States due to its brutality.
On the schedule, on the morning of November 12, 2001, Flight 587 of American Airlines was set to make a routine direct flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (USA) to Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. The flight was expected to last approximately three and a half hours.
After the Airbus A300 took off at 9:13 AM and ascended into the clear blue sky heading towards Santo Domingo with 260 passengers and crew on board, everything seemed to be going smoothly.
American Airlines Flight 587 was said to carry 90% Dominican passengers home for the holiday. (Illustrative image).
However, around 9:15 AM, when the aircraft reached an altitude of over 500 meters, it suddenly showed signs of losing control and began to shake violently due to turbulence caused by a Japan Airlines (Boeing 747) that had taken off just minutes earlier.
At that moment, due to the Airbus A300’s unusually sensitive rudder control system, an untrained pilot could easily make mistakes by applying too much pressure on the rudder pedals. This was precisely what happened in the case of Flight 587; pilot Sten Molin (34 years old) not only applied excessive pressure on the rudder pedals but also overused the rudder itself. The combination of strong air currents and excessive rudder use caused the vertical stabilizer (tail fin) of the aircraft to break off mid-air.
The tail fin of the aircraft broke off due to pilot error. (Reconstructed image from a documentary).
Just seconds later, both engines detached from the aircraft, causing it to plunge directly down into the Queens area of New York City at 9:17 AM, resulting in a massive explosion at the crash site. The accident claimed the lives of all 251 passengers, 9 crew members on board, and 5 others on the ground.
Additionally, it severely impacted 12 other buildings. Residents several kilometers away from the crash site could still see large columns of smoke rising high into the sky.
The aircraft crashed in Queens, resulting in 260 fatalities. (Reconstructed image from a documentary).
The crash site was haunting with flames and thick smoke. (Photo: NYPD/Getty).
American Airlines later blamed Airbus for manufacturing an aircraft with an unusually sensitive rudder control system. They claimed that most aircraft required strong pressure on the rudder pedals to control the plane, but most experts agreed that the accident was due to American Airlines improperly training its pilots.
The tail fin of the aircraft recovered after the accident. (Photo: Aerotime).
After a thorough investigation by the NTSB, it was determined that the design of the tail fin met standards. Since the accident, American Airlines has modified its pilot training program to help them better understand the rudder mechanism.
Notably, this tragedy occurred just two months after the September 11 attacks that shocked the world. This aviation accident left many residents of New York City, especially the Dominican community here, struggling mentally for a long time.
