American Airlines Flight 587#Statement of probable cause

The accident aircraft, registration {{Airreg|N|14053|,}} was an Airbus A300 B4-605R delivered new to American Airlines on 12 July 1988. The aircraft's first flight was on 9 December 1987, and it was the first "R" model A300-600 built. On the day of the accident, it was in a two-class seating configuration with space for 251 passengers, and all seats were filled: 16 business-class seats and 235 economy-class seats.{{Reference page|pages=412,414}} The aircraft was powered by two General Electric CF6-80C2A5 engines.{{cite web |last=Ranter |first=Harro |date=November 12, 2001 |title=ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A300B4-605R N14053 Belle Harbor, NY |url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20011112-0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420004450/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20011112-0 |archive-date=April 20, 2014 |access-date=April 20, 2016 |website=Aviation Safety Network |publisher=Flight Safety Foundation}} On board were nine crew members, including 42-year-old Captain Edward States,{{efn|name=fn2|Captain States had been a former U.S. Air Force pilot and joined American Airlines in 1985. He became a first officer on the Airbus A300 in 1988 and was promoted to an A300 captain 10 years later. States had 8,050 flight hours, including 3,448 hours on the Airbus A300.{{Reference page|pages=9–10}}|group=}} who was the pilot monitoring and undertaking radio communications, and 34-year-old First Officer Sten Molin, who was the pilot flying.{{efn|name=fn3|First Officer Molin had previously flown commuter and general aircraft prior to joining American Airlines in 1991. He became an Airbus A300 first officer in 1998 and had 4,403 flight hours, with 1,835 of them on the Airbus A300.{{Reference page|pages=11}}|group=}}

File:AA587 Tollbooth Video.JPG{{cite web |title=Animations and videos from board neeting |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/events/2001/aa587/board_mtg_anim.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622075203/https://www.ntsb.gov/events/2001/AA587/board_mtg_anim.htm |archive-date=June 22, 2011 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board}}]]

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The aircraft taxied to Runway 31L behind a Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 747-400 (JAL Flight 47) preparing for takeoff. The JAL flight was cleared for takeoff at 9:11:08 am EST. At 9:11:36, the tower controller cautioned Flight 587 about potential wake turbulence from a preceding B747.{{cite report |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0404.pdf |title=In-Flight Separation of Vertical Stabilizer, American Airlines Flight 587, Airbus Industrie A300-605R, N14053, Belle Harbor, New York, November 12, 2001 |date=October 26, 2004 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |id=NTSB/AAR-04/04 |access-date=July 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430010317/https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0404.pdf |archive-date=April 30, 2017 |url-status=live}}{{Reference page|page=2}}

File:AA587Events.jpg

At 9:13:28, the A300 was cleared for takeoff and left the runway at 9:14:29, about one minute and 40 seconds after the JAL flight had departed. The aircraft climbed to an altitude of {{convert|500|feet|m}} and then entered a climbing left turn to a heading of 220°. At 9:15:00, the captain made initial contact with the departure controller, informing him that the airplane was at {{convert|1300|feet|m|abbr=on}} and climbing to {{convert|5000|feet|m|abbr=on}}. The controller instructed the aircraft to climb to and maintain {{convert|13000|feet|m|abbr=on}}.{{Reference page|page=3}} The flight data recorder (FDR) showed that the events leading to the crash began when the aircraft hit wake turbulence from the JAL flight in front of it at 9:15:36. In response to the turbulence, Molin moved the rudder from the right to the left and back again in quick succession from 9:15:52, causing sideslip until the lateral force caused composite lugs that attached the vertical stabilizer to fail at 9:15:58.{{Reference page|pages=xi,135}} The stabilizer separated from the aircraft and fell into Jamaica Bay, about {{convert|1|mi|km|abbr=on}} north of the main wreckage site.

The aircraft pitched downward after the stabilizer loss. As the pilots struggled to control the aircraft, it entered a flat spin. The resulting aerodynamic loads sheared both engines from the aircraft, and they fell several blocks north and east of the main wreckage site, causing minor damage to a gas station and major damage to a home and a boat. The loss of engines cut power to the FDR at 9:16:01, while the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), using an emergency bus, stopped at 9:16:14.8 upon impact with the ground. At 9:16:04, the stall warning sounded on the CVR.{{Reference page|page=195}} The last recorded words were those of Molin saying, "What the hell are we into, we're stuck in it" (9:16:07) and States replying "Get out of it, get out of it."{{cite news |title=Last Words on Doomed Plane – * 'Get out of it!' Pilot Shouted * Crew Made Tragic Error: Feds |url=https://nypost.com/2004/10/27/last-words-on-doomed-plane-get-out-of-it-pilot-shouted-crew-made-tragic-error-feds/ |work=New York Post |access-date=October 2, 2018 |date=October 27, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115025410/http://nypost.com/2004/10/27/last-words-on-doomed-plane-get-out-of-it-pilot-shouted-crew-made-tragic-error-feds/ |archive-date=November 15, 2017 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=CVR 990601 |url=http://planecrashinfo.com/cvr011112.htm |website=planecrashinfo.com |access-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929114505/http://planecrashinfo.com/cvr011112.htm |archive-date=September 29, 2018 |url-status=live}} The aircraft slammed into the ground at Newport Avenue and Beach 131st Street.{{Reference page|pages=48–50}}

File:American_Airlines_587_taxiing_at_NYC.jpg, which is not observed in November.{{cite web |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/events/2001/AA587/anim_587.htm |title=NTSB footage of takeoff from construction site |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622112510/https://www.ntsb.gov/events/2001/AA587/anim_587.htm |archive-date=June 22, 2011}}]]

Because the crash occurred just two months after the September 11 attacks, which also took place in New York City, several major buildings, including the Empire State Building and the headquarters of the United Nations, were evacuated. Rumors circulated that the plane had been destroyed in a terrorist plot.{{cite web |website=AIM.org |url=http://www.aim.org/media-monitor/rumors-about-flight-587/ |title=Rumors about Flight 587 |last1=Irvine |first1=Reed |last2=Kincaid |first2=Cliff |publisher=Accuracy in Media |date=February 6, 2002 |access-date=October 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022180348/http://www.aim.org/media-monitor/rumors-about-flight-587/ |archive-date=October 22, 2013}}{{cite news |title=Speculation about Flight 587 Crash Flourishes in Absence of Answers |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=November 13, 2001}}

In May 2002, a Kuwaiti national named Mohammed Jabarah agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of a plea bargain. Among the details that Jabarah offered to authorities was a claim that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's lieutenant had told him that Richard Reid and Abderraouf Jdey had been enlisted by al Qaeda to execute identical shoe-bombing plots as part of a second wave of attacks against the United States. According to the lieutenant, Jdey's bomb had successfully destroyed Flight 587, while Reid's attempt had been foiled.{{cite web |date=August 28, 2004 |title=Terrorismo: Canada, accuse ad Al Qaida per aereo caduto a NY |trans-title=Terrorism: Canada accuses Al Qaeda of plane crash in NY |url=http://www.tio.ch/aa_pagine_comuni/articolo_interna.asp?idarticolo=179505&idtipo=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303062035/http://www.tio.ch/aa_pagine_comuni/articolo_interna.asp?idarticolo=179505&idtipo=2 |archive-date=March 3, 2012 |access-date=August 28, 2004 |website=tio.ch |publisher=Ticin Online |language=it}}{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=Stewart |title=The Martyr's Oath: The Apprenticeship of a Homegrown Terrorist |date=2009 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-73904-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v17bfLK9qJgC&pg=PT215 |page=215 |language=en}}{{cite news |url=http://circ.jmellon.com/docs/view.asp?id=693 |title=Montreal man downed US plane, CSIS told |last=Bell |first=Stewart |newspaper=National Post |date=August 27, 2004 |access-date=October 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016064500/http://circ.jmellon.com/docs/view.asp?id=693 |archive-date=October 16, 2013}}{{cite news |last1=Schwach |first1=Howard |title=KSM Trial Raises Questions For AA 587 |url=https://www.rockawave.com/articles/ksm-trial-raises-questions-for-aa-587/ |work=The Rockaway Wave |publisher=Wave Publishing Company |access-date=July 5, 2017 |date=November 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126104503/https://www.rockawave.com/articles/ksm-trial-raises-questions-for-aa-587/ |archive-date=January 26, 2018 |url-status=live}} According to a Canadian government memorandum, Jdey, a naturalized Canadian citizen, was to use his Canadian passport to board the flight, but American Airlines' passenger manifest for Flight 587 did not list any passengers using Canadian passports. According to NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz, the weight of the memo's veracity was questioned, as no evidence of a terrorist traveling on board was found. The evidence suggested that the aircraft was destroyed after a piece of the tail assembly, "the vertical fin, came off," while it did not indicate "any kind of event in the cabin."

File:Marion Blakey AA587.jpg

On the afternoon of the crash, the NTSB launched an investigation in search for a probable cause. Over the next three months, they conducted 349 interviews and collected and reconstructed pieces of the aircraft.{{cite news |title=Eighth Update on NTSB Investigation into Crash of American Airlines Flight 587 |url=http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/btn40000712/ |website=Breaking Travel News |date=June 4, 2002}} The Airbus A300 took off shortly after a JAL Boeing 747-400 using the same runway.{{Reference page|page=47}} It flew into the larger jet's wake, an area of turbulent air. The first officer attempted to stabilize the aircraft with alternating aggressive rudder inputs.{{Reference page|page=107}} The force of the air flowing against the moving rudder stressed the aircraft's vertical stabilizer, and eventually snapped it off entirely, causing the aircraft to lose control and crash. The NTSB concluded that the enormous stress on the vertical stabilizer was due to the first officer's "unnecessary and excessive" rudder inputs, and not the wake turbulence caused by the 747. The NTSB further stated, "if the first officer had stopped making additional inputs, the aircraft would have stabilized". Contributing factors were characteristics of the Airbus A300-600's sensitive rudder system design and elements of the American Airlines Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Training Program.{{cite web |url=https://legacy.alliedpilots.org/Public/Topics/Issues/apa587finalsubmission.pdf |title=Submission of the Allied Pilots Association to the National Transportation Safety Board: Regarding the accident of American Airlines Flight 587 at Belle Harbor, New York November 12, 2001 |publisher=Allied Pilots Association |access-date=January 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081931/https://legacy.alliedpilots.org/Public/Topics/Issues/apa587finalsubmission.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead}}

The manner in which the vertical stabilizer separated concerned investigators. It is connected to the fuselage with six attaching points. Each point has two sets of attachment lugs, one set made of composite material, another of aluminum, all connected by a titanium bolt; damage analysis showed that the bolts and aluminum lugs were intact, but not the composite lugs. This, coupled with two events earlier in the life of the aircraft, namely delamination in part of the vertical stabilizer prior to its delivery from Airbus's Toulouse factory, and an encounter with heavy turbulence in 1994, caused investigators to examine the use of composites.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/19/nyregion/a-workhorse-of-the-skies-perhaps-with-a-deadly-defect.html |work=The New York Times |title=A Workhorse of the Skies, Perhaps With a Deadly Defect |first1=Matthew L. |last1=Wald |first2=Al |last2=Baker |date=November 19, 2001 |access-date=April 23, 2010}} The possibility that the composite materials might not be as strong as previously supposed was a cause of concern, as they are used in other areas of the plane, including the engine mounting and the wings.{{cite book |last1=Griffioen |first1=Hans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6ShAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 |title=Air Crash Investigations: The Crash of American Airlines Flight 587 |publisher=Lulu.com |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4092-8602-8 |page=208}} Tests carried out on the vertical stabilizers from the accident aircraft, and from another similar aircraft, found that the strength of the composite material had not been compromised, and the NTSB concluded that the material had failed because it had been stressed beyond its design limit.{{Reference page|pages=69–70}}

The crash was witnessed by hundreds of people, 349 of whom gave accounts of what they saw to the NTSB. About half (52%) reported a fire or explosion before the plane hit the ground. Others stated that they saw a wing detach from the aircraft, when in fact it was the vertical stabilizer.{{cite news |last=Wald |first=Matthew L |date=June 23, 2002 |title=Ideas & Trends; For Air Crash Detectives, Seeing Isn't Believing |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/weekinreview/23WALD.html |url-status=live |access-date=October 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518210525/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/weekinreview/23WALD.html |archive-date=May 18, 2013 |issn=0362-4331}}{{cite news |last=Kleinfield |first=N. R. |date=November 13, 2001 |title=The Crash of Flight 587: The Overview |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/13/nyregion/crash-flight-587-overview-260-jet-die-queens-crash-6-9-missing-12-homes-burn-us.html |url-status=live |access-date=January 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224215110/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/13/nyregion/crash-flight-587-overview-260-jet-die-queens-crash-6-9-missing-12-homes-burn-us.html |archive-date=December 24, 2015 |issn=0362-4331}}

After the crash, Floyd Bennett Field's empty hangars were used as a makeshift morgue for the identification of crash victims.{{cite web |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/incidents/flight587/index.html |title=FDNY Responds: Flight 587 Crashes in the Rockaways |access-date=January 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720044656/http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/incidents/flight587/index.html |archive-date=July 20, 2013}}

File:Flight 587 NOAA Photo of Crash Site.jpg

According to the official accident report, the first officer repeatedly moved the rudder from fully left to fully right. This caused increasing sideslip angles. The resulting hazardous sideslip angle led to extremely high aerodynamic loads that separated the vertical stabilizer. If the first officer had stopped moving the rudder at any time before the vertical stabilizer failed, the aircraft would have leveled out on its own, and the accident would have been avoided.{{cite magazine |last1=Bella |first1=Timothy |last2=Fearnow |first2=Benjamin |date=November 11, 2011 |title=Remembering America's Second-Deadliest Plane Crash |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/11/remembering-americas-second-deadliest-plane-crash/248313/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502051946/http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/11/remembering-americas-second-deadliest-plane-crash/248313/ |archive-date=May 2, 2014 |magazine=The Atlantic}} The aircraft performance study indicated that when the vertical stabilizer finally detached, the aerodynamic loads caused by the first officer's actions produced {{convert|203000|lbf|kN|abbr=off}} of force on the rudder, meaning that the vertical stabilizer did not fail until far in excess of the {{convert|100000|lbf|kN|abbr=on}} of force defined by the design envelope.{{Cite episode |title=Queens Catastrophe |series=Mayday |publisher=Cineflix |network=Discovery Channel Canada |season=13 |number=5 |date=2014-01-06}}{{cite web |date=October 26, 2004 |title=National Transportation Safety Board Public Meeting of October 26, 2004 |url=https://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-summaries/AAR04-04S.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-summaries/AAR04-04S.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |access-date=January 16, 2019 |website= |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |via=libraryonline.erau.edu}} The vertical stabilizer's structural performance was determined to be consistent with design specifications and to have exceeded certification requirements.{{cite web |title=Structural Analysis for the American Airlines Flight 587 Accident Investigation – Global Analysis |date=January 2005 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20050203842.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20050203842.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=NASA Langley Research Center |access-date=January 16, 2019}}

Contributing factors identified in the report included: First, the first officer's predisposition to overreact to wake turbulence; second, training provided by American Airlines that could have encouraged pilots to use the rudder this aggressively; third, the first officer likely not understanding an airplane's response to full rudder at high airspeeds or the mechanism by which the rudder rolls a transport-category airplane;{{cite journal |last=Ladkin |first=Peter B. |date=November 18, 2004 |title=American Airlines flight 587 insight on rudder input |url=https://engineering.purdue.edu/~andrisan/Courses/AAE421_Fall_2006/AAE421_Buffer_F06/CrashOfAA587.pdf |journal=RVS Group |publisher=Bielefeld University |s2cid=12789039 |id=RVS-RR-04-03}} and finally, light rudder pedal forces and small pedal displacement of the A300-600 rudder pedal system that increased the airplane's susceptibility to rudder misuse.{{Reference page|page=151}}

File:American Airlines Flight 587 Accident animation.ogv

Most aircraft require increased pressure on the rudder pedals to achieve the same amount of rudder control at a higher speed. The Airbus A300 and later Airbus A310 models do not operate on a fly-by-wire flight control system, but instead use conventional mechanical flight controls. The NTSB asserted that the A300-600 rudder control system was vulnerable to excessive rudder inputs.{{cite press release |url=https://ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Says_Pilots_Excessive_Rudder_Pedal_Inputs_Led_to_Crash_of_American_Flight_587;_Airbus_Rudder_System_Design_Amp;_Eleme.aspx |title=NTSB SAYS PILOT'S EXCESSIVE RUDDER PEDAL INPUTS LED TO CRASH OF AMERICAN FLIGHT 587; AIRBUS RUDDER SYSTEM DESIGN & ELEMENTS OF AIRLINE'S PILOT TRAINING PROGRAM CONTRIBUTED |date=October 26, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002135427/https://www.ntsb.gov/news/2004/041026.htm |archive-date=October 2, 2013 |access-date=December 6, 2005 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board}} The Allied Pilots Association, in its submission to the NTSB, argued that the unusual sensitivity of the rudder mechanism amounted to a design flaw that Airbus should have communicated to the airline. The main rationale for their position came from a 1997 report that referenced 10 incidents in which A300 tail fins had been stressed beyond their design limitation.{{cite press release |author= |title=Aviation Safety and Pilot Control: Understanding and Preventing Unfavorable Pilot-Vehicle Interactions |url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=5469 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Washington National Academy Press |year=1997 |access-date=October 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017025716/http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=5469 |archive-date=October 17, 2013 |url-status=live}}

Airbus charged that the crash was mostly American Airlines' fault, arguing that the airline did not train its pilots properly about the characteristics of the rudder. Aircraft tail fins are designed to withstand full rudder deflection in one direction when below maneuvering speed, but this does not guarantee that they can withstand an abrupt shift in rudder from one direction to the other, let alone multiple abrupt shifts, like those generated by the first officer on this flight. The NTSB indicated that American Airlines' Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program (AAMP) tended to exaggerate the effects of wake turbulence on large aircraft, creating a simulation scenario whereby turbulence from a 747 creates a 90° roll (rather than the likely 5 to 10° roll, though not explaining this to the pilots) to maximize the training challenge. Therefore, pilots were being inadvertently trained to react more aggressively than was necessary. According to author Amy Fraher, this led to concerns of whether it was appropriate for the AAMP to be placing such importance on "the role of flight simulators in teaching airplane upset recovery at all." Fraher states that the key to understanding the crash of Flight 587 ultimately lay in "how the accident pilots' expectations about aircraft performance were erroneously established through 'clumsy' flight simulator training in American's AAMP."{{cite journal |last1=Fraher |first1=Amy L. |title=Technology-Push, Market-Demand and the Missing Safety-Pull: A Case Study of American Airlines Flight 587 |journal=New Technology, Work and Employment |date=July 4, 2015 |volume=30 |issue=2 |page=124 |doi=10.1111/ntwe.12050 |s2cid=54520870 |doi-access=free}}

From the NTSB report of the accident:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was 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 (AAMP).{{Reference page|page=160}}

Since the NTSB's report, American Airlines has modified its pilot training program.{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Leslie |date=October 27, 2004 |title=Pilot error blamed for Flight 587 crash |url=http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/RiskManagement/A300previous.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509001346/http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/RiskManagement/A300previous.html |archive-date=May 9, 2013 |access-date=February 7, 2008 |publisher=Associated Press}}

All 260 people aboard the plane died in the crash. Five bystanders on the ground were also killed.{{cite journal |last1=Vidoli |first1=Giovanna M. |last2=Mundorff |first2=Amy Z. |s2cid=26648513 |title=Victim Fragmentation Patterns and Seat Location Supplements Crash Data: American Airlines Flight 587 |journal=Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine |date=April 1, 2012 |volume=83 |issue=4 |pages=412–417 |doi=10.3357/ASEM.3155.2012 |pmid=22462369}}{{open access}} One of the victims, Hilda Yolanda Mayol, had previously survived the September 11 attacks, having escaped from the North Tower of the World Trade Center. She was traveling with her mother and children, attempting to escape the trauma of the attacks.{{cite news |last1=Younge |first1=Gary |title=Flight to the Death |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/246524101 |access-date=May 21, 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=November 11, 2006 |page=63 |id={{ProQuest|246524101}} |quote=On board was Hilda Yolanda Mayol, 26, a waitress who had escaped from the north tower of the World Trade Centre and was heading to the Dominican Republic with her mother and children to take her mind off the trauma. |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}} Another victim of the crash was Ashot Melikjanyan, a Soviet-Armenian former actor who later became a naturalized American citizen.{{cite news |title=Complete Passenger and Crew Lists for AA Flight 587 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/articles/flight587victimslist.htm |access-date=12 May 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

Five residents of Belle Harbor lost their lives in the crash{{Cite web |last=Wave |first=The |date=2004-11-26 |title=Final List Of The Victims Of The Crash Of AA 587 - The Wave |url=https://www.rockawave.com/articles/final-list-of-the-victims-of-the-crash-of-aa-587/#:~:text=Captain%20Edward%20States,%20First%20Officer,Kathleen%20Lawler%20of%20Belle%20Harbor |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=The Wave - Rockaway's Newspaper since 1893 {{!}} 718-634-4000}}: Thomas (73) and Helen Concannon (78), an elderly married couple{{Cite web |last=Peyser |first=Andrea |date=2001-11-14 |title=WONDERFUL COUPLE CUT DOWN IN THEIR ‘PRIME’ |url=https://nypost.com/2001/11/14/wonderful-couple-cut-down-in-their-prime/ |access-date=2025-05-22 |language=en-US}}; Kathleen Lawler (48) and her son Christopher Lawler (24) —a second-year law student at St. John’s University—{{Cite web |last=Louis |first=by Kathleen |date=2001-11-22 |title=Mother And Son Remembered As Family Of Six Becomes Four |url=https://www.qchron.com/editions/south/mother-and-son-remembered-as-family-of-six-becomes-four/article_c9a8b281-6115-5a8a-ae67-f2ad990769fe.html |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=Queens Chronicle |language=en}}, and Franco "Frank" Pomponio (45). Frank Pomponio's wife, daughter, and dog survived by escaping through the rear of their home, quickly navigating through billowing smoke. Frank, however, was directly struck and subsequently trapped while sleeping in the upstairs bedroom.{{Cite news |last=Younge |first=Gary |date=2006-11-11 |title=Flight to the death |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/11/weekend.garyyounge |access-date=2025-05-22 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Moments later the family dog, Dakota (5), reportedly ran back into the wreck to find Frank. She disappeared in the flames but was found hours later in stable condition albeit with her paws severely damaged.{{Cite web |last=Louis |first=by Kathleen |date=2001-11-22 |title=Family Dog Tries To Find Owner After Flight 587 Destroys Home |url=https://www.qchron.com/editions/south/family-dog-tries-to-find-owner-after-flight-587-destroys-home/article_b23fde2f-5d6d-5c08-ad20-811314e38739.html |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=Queens Chronicle |language=en}} Frank is also survived by a son, Michael, who was attending SUNY Albany at the time of the incident. Evidently a close knit community, Kathleen Lawler’s two surviving daughters, Katelyn and Jennifer, were attending Bishop Kearney High School alongside Frank's daughter, Jennifer Pomponio. All three were members of the school's varsity softball team. Jennifer was getting ready to leave for practice to join the Lawler sisters just before the plane struck.{{Cite web |last=Harrison |first=Bridget |date=2001-11-14 |title=HEARTBREAK HIGH – B’KLYN STUDENTS LOSE LOVED ONES TO WTC & CRASH |url=https://nypost.com/2001/11/14/heartbreak-high-bklyn-students-lose-loved-ones-to-wtc-crash/ |access-date=2025-05-22 |language=en-US}} Kathleen is also survived by her husband, Thomas Lawler, and their son, Brendan Lawler. Additionally, Frank Pomponio was a well-regarded and beloved coach of Bishop Kearney’s varsity softball team. Tragically, many students at Bishop Kearney had recently lost relatives in the 9/11 attacks which had occurred only two months prior. As reported by the New York Post, a total of 7 individuals linked to Bishop Kearney passed away in connection with both incidents.

A few months after the incident, Pomponio's wife, Geraldine "Gerry" Pompiono banded together with a group of community leaders committed to fighting for reduced airplane traffic over residential areas. She stated in an interview with the Queens Chronicle, “It’s sad that the FAA hasn’t brought about a change in a timely way". She added, “It’s disturbing. They made a claim, and they’re not keeping up with their promise". Months ago in a community meeting, FAA officials said they would begin re-routing many departing flights from JFK Airport so that most planes would fly over water and parkland instead of over homes. However, commercial airlines continued to fly over the densely populated neighborhoods of the Rockaway Peninsula, leaving residents feeling frustrated and ignored.{{Cite web |last=Louis |first=by Kathleen |date=2002-05-09 |title=Belle Harbor Survivor Fights For Fulfillment Of FAA Promises |url=https://www.qchron.com/editions/south/belle-harbor-survivor-fights-for-fulfillment-of-faa-promises/article_22e0ae83-5f78-5458-a58a-af96ea841077.html |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=Queens Chronicle |language=en}}File:Belleh loz 137-3713 IMG.jpgLas Américas International Airport officials created a private area for those who had come to the airport to meet passengers, some of whom were unaware that the airliner had crashed.{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/11/12/dominican.families/index.html |title=Shocked relatives gather at Dominican airport |work=CNN.com |access-date=June 6, 2007 |date=November 13, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218213622/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/11/12/dominican.families/index.html |archive-date=December 18, 2008}} The authorities at John F. Kennedy International Airport used the JFK Ramada Plaza to house relatives and friends of the victims of the crash.{{cite news |date=November 17, 2011 |title=Hotel Near JFK Airport is Familiar With Airline Tragedy |work=CNN |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0111/17/smn.21.html |access-date=March 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107122819/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0111/17/smn.21.html |archive-date=January 7, 2012}} The family crisis center later moved to the Javits Center in Manhattan.{{cite news |url=http://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/jfk-s-ramada-hotel-once-again-becomes-makeshift-crisis-center/article_582561ba-518b-5376-b880-00ffa3ed79b4.html |title=JFK's Ramada Hotel Once Again Becomes Makeshift Crisis Center |newspaper=Queens Chronicle |last=Banduci |first=Lucy |date=November 15, 2011 |access-date=January 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140309050715/http://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/jfk-s-ramada-hotel-once-again-becomes-makeshift-crisis-center/article_582561ba-518b-5376-b880-00ffa3ed79b4.html |archive-date=March 9, 2014 |url-status=live}}

{{See also|Caribbean immigration to New York City}}

In 2001, 51 weekly direct flights were made between JFK and the Dominican Republic, with additional flights in December. Most of the flights were offered by American Airlines,{{cite news |last=Kugel |first=Seth |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/18/nyregion/now-boarding-dreams.html |title=Now Boarding, Dreams |date=November 18, 2001 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 13, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307104458/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/18/nyregion/now-boarding-dreams.html |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Reference page|page=1}}{{cite web |url=http://airlineroute.net/2011/01/23/aa-s11-update2/ |title=American Airlines S11 International Operation changes as of 23JAN11 |website=airlineroute.net |publisher=UBM plc |location=London |access-date=March 10, 2014 |date=January 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310201500/http://airlineroute.net/2011/01/23/aa-s11-update2/ |archive-date=March 10, 2014}} and the airline was described as having a virtual monopoly on the route.{{rp|2}} Around 90% of the passengers on the accident flight were of Dominican descent.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/11/weekend.garyyounge |title=Flight to the death |last=Younge |first=Gary |newspaper=The Guardian |date=November 10, 2006 |access-date=October 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113035208/http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/11/weekend.garyyounge |archive-date=November 13, 2012}}

The Guardian described the flight as having "cult status" in Washington Heights, a Dominican area of Manhattan. Belkis Lora, a relative of a passenger on Flight 587, said, "Every Dominican in New York has either taken that flight or knows someone who has. It gets you there early. At home, there are songs about it." Seth Kugel, writing for The New York Times, said, "For many Dominicans in New York, these journeys home are the defining metaphor of their complex push-pull relationship with their homeland; they embody, vividly and poignantly, the tug between their current lives and their former selves. That fact gave Monday's tragedy a particularly horrible resonance for New York's Dominicans."{{rp|1}} He added, "Even before Monday's crash, Dominicans had developed a complex love-hate relationship with American Airlines, complaining about high prices and baggage restrictions even while favoring the carrier over other airlines that used to travel the same route."{{rp|page=2}} David Rivas, a New York City travel agency owner, said, "For the Dominican to go to Santo Domingo during Christmas and summer is like the Muslims going to Mecca."{{rp|page=4}}{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/2004/11/05/askthepilot110/ |title=Don't blame the pilot for the crash of Flight 587. The truth is much more complicated |last=Smith |first=Patrick |work=Salon.com |date=November 5, 2004 |access-date=October 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128213445/http://www.salon.com/2004/11/05/askthepilot110/ |archive-date=November 28, 2011}}

The crash did not affect bookings for the JFK–Santo Domingo route. Dominicans continued to book travel on the flights{{Reference page|page=4}} until American Airlines ended services between JFK and Santo Domingo on April 1, 2013.{{cite news |url=http://www.travelweekly.com/Caribbean-Travel/American-chops-two-DR-routes-from-New-York/ |title=American chops two D.R. routes from New York |last=Myers |first=Gay Nagle |newspaper=Travel Weekly |date=January 28, 2013 |access-date=October 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222152657/http://www.travelweekly.com/Caribbean-Travel/American-chops-two-DR-routes-from-New-York/ |archive-date=December 22, 2015 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://airlineroute.net/2013/01/14/aa-jfkdr-apr13/ |title=American Airlines Cancels New York – Santo Domingo / Santiago |website=airlineroute.net |publisher=UBM plc |location=London |access-date=March 10, 2014 |date=January 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310200331/http://airlineroute.net/2013/01/14/aa-jfkdr-apr13/ |archive-date=March 10, 2014}}

File:Rockaway Park - 1 (3478148838).jpg

A memorial was constructed in Rockaway Park, the community adjoining Belle Harbor to the east, in memory of the 265 victims of the crash. It is situated beside the Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk at the south end of Beach 116th Street, a major commercial street in the area. It was dedicated on November 12, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the accident, in a ceremony attended by then-Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg. A ceremony commemorating the disaster is held annually at the memorial every November 12, featuring a reading of the names of those killed aboard the aircraft and on the ground, with a formal moment of silence observed at 9:16 am, the estimated time of the crash. The memorial wall, designed by Dominican artist Freddy Rodríguez and Situ Studio, has windows and a doorway looking toward the nearby Atlantic Ocean and angled toward the Dominican Republic. It is inscribed with the names of the victims.{{cite news |url=http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/68947 |title=Flight 587 Memorial Dedicated in Rockaways |work=WNYC.org |access-date=November 16, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221014229/http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/68947 |archive-date=December 21, 2008}} Atop the memorial is a quotation, in both Spanish and English, from Dominican poet Pedro Mir: "{{lang|es|Después no quiero más que paz}}" (which translates to "Afterwards I want nothing more than peace").{{cite news |title=Families dedicate Flight 587 memorial on 5-year anniversary |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/12/america/NA_GEN_US_Flight_587_Anniversary.php |work=The International Herald Tribune |agency=Associated Press |publisher= |date=November 12, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201155045/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/12/america/NA_GEN_US_Flight_587_Anniversary.php |archive-date=February 1, 2009}}

In a ceremony held on May 6, 2007, at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, 889 unidentified fragments of human remains of the victims of the crash were entombed in a group of four mausoleum crypts.{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Trymaine |date=May 7, 2007 |title=Only 4 Coffins, but 265 Victims Are Mourned at Mass in the Bronx |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/nyregion/07remains.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014092737/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/nyregion/07remains.html |archive-date=October 14, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}

Several documentaries have been made concerning the accident.

A 2006 episode of the National Geographic Channel program Seconds From Disaster examined the Flight 587 accident in detail. The episode was titled "Plane Crash in Queens" (also known as "New York Air Crash").{{cite episode |title=New York Air Crash |series=Seconds from Disaster |series-link=Seconds from Disaster |network=National Geographic Channel |date=September 6, 2006 |season=3 |number=3}}

A 2006 episode of Modern Marvels on The History Channel aired an episode titled "Engineering Disasters 20", which featured detailed information on Flight 587.{{Cite episode |title=Engineering Disasters 20 |series=Modern Marvels |network=The History Channel |season=13 |year=2006}} The Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic series Mayday (also called Air Crash Investigation or Air Emergency) dramatized the accident in a 2014 episode titled "Queens Catastrophe". The BBC program Horizon also created an episode about the crash.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/flight587.shtml |title=Horizon: Flight 587 |publisher=BBC Home |date=May 8, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501020059/http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/flight587.shtml |archive-date=May 1, 2013}}

An episode of Aircrash Confidential on Discovery Channel also featured Flight 587. The episode was titled "Pilot Error".{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} A 2011 episode of Why Planes Crash featured Flight 587. The episode was titled "Human Error" and was aired on MSNBC.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} A 2020 episode of Black Box Down featured Flight 587.{{cite episode |title=Crashing in a New York Neighborhood |series=Black Box Down |date=August 13, 2020 |season=2 |number=13}}

• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
• 2008 Mexico City Learjet crash
• Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, which is loosely based on Flight 587

{{notelist}}

{{NTSB}}

{{Reflist}}

{{external media

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| image1 = [http://www.airliners.net/search?registrationActual=N14053&display=detail Photos of N14053 at Airliners.net]

| video1 = {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPHtof6tHKE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211115/nPHtof6tHKE |archive-date=2021-11-15 |url-status=live |title=Did a Poorly Trained Pilot Cause Flight 587's Crash? |publisher=Smithsonian Channel |date=2015-03-05}}{{cbignore}}

}}

{{Commons category|American Airlines Flight 587}}

• [https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=53768 NTSB Docket] including Cockpit Voice Recorder Transcript (76.5 KB; [https://web.archive.org/web/20040719190549/https://www.ntsb.gov/Events/2001/AA587/exhibits/241569.pdf Archive];)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20011113212228/http://www.aa.com/ Archive of AA.com on November 13, 2001]
• Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety – Reporting on behalf of European manufacturer Airbus
• "[http://www.bea.aero/anglaise/actualite/com011112.htm Accident on November 12, 2001 in New York]." ([https://web.archive.org/web/20030802063737/http://www.bea.aero/anglaise/actualite/com011112.htm Archive])
• {{in lang|fr}} "[http://www.bea.aero/francais/actualite/actu.htm Accident survenu le novembre 12, 2001 à New York]." ([https://web.archive.org/web/20021013105941/http://www.bea.aero/francais/actualite/actu.htm Archive])
• [http://www.airliners.net/search?registrationActual=N14053&display=detail Photos of the plane involved in the accident and of the crash scene] from Airliners.net
• {{cite web |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/projects/flight_587_memorial.shtml |title=The Mayor's Fund to Advance NYC – Flight 587 Memorial Project |publisher=New York City Government Website (NYC.gov) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309152028/http://www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/projects/flight_587_memorial.shtml |archive-date=March 9, 2012}}
• {{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/sep/11/september112002.september1161 |title=Hector Algarobba's essay on how he was affected by the disaster of AA587 |journal=The Guardian |last1=Algarobba |first1=Hector |last2=Burkeman |first2=Oliver |date=September 11, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113012541/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/sep/11/september112002.september1161 |archive-date=November 13, 2012 |ref=none}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.rockawave.com/news/2002-07-20/Front_Page/D-Witnesses_Stories0720.html |title=A Wave Exclusive….Flight 587 Witnesses Speak Out At Wave Sponsored Meeting |date=July 20, 2002 |publisher=The Wave |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114120412/http://www.rockawave.com/news/2002-07-20/Front_Page/D-Witnesses_Stories0720.html |archive-date=November 14, 2012}}
• {{cite web |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20080008569.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20080008569.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |last=Switzer |first=George F. |title=Documentation for Three Wake Vortex Model Data Sets from Simulation of Flight 587 Wake Vortex Encounter Accident Case |publisher=NASA |date=January 2003 |ref=none}}
• {{YouTube|id=HFik-ergoGY&t|title=American Airlines Flight 587 ATC recording}}

{{American Airlines}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 2001}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in the 2000s}}

{{Portal bar|border=yes|Dominican Republic|Aviation|New York City|2000s}}

Category:2001 in New York City

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Category:Airliner accidents and incidents in New York City

587

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents caused by wake turbulence

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents caused by clear air turbulence

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in New York City

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2001

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Category:2000s in Queens

Category:November 2001 in the United States

Category:Rockaway, Queens