Accident American Airlines Flight 587

flight 587, circled in white, can seen in photo moving downward white streak behind aircraft. photo still video, released ntsb, recorded toll-booth camera located on marine parkway–gil hodges memorial bridge.

the accident aircraft, registration n14053, airbus a300b4-605r delivered in 1988 seating configuration 251 passengers , 9 crew , powered 2 general electric cf6-80c2a5 engines. on-board 2 flight crew members, captain ed states (42) , first officer sten molin (34); 7 cabin crew members , 251 passengers.

the plane pushed gate @ 9:00 am. taxied runway 31l behind japan airlines boeing 747-400 bound tokyo. @ 9:11 am, 747 cleared takeoff. jal flight climbed, tower controller cautioned flight 587 pilots potential wake turbulence 747.

at 9:13:28, a300 cleared takeoff on runway 31l. aircraft left runway @ 9:14:29, 1 minute , 40 seconds after jal flight. takeoff, plane climbed altitude of 500 feet above mean sea level (msl) , entered climbing left turn heading of 220°. @ 9:15:00, pilot made initial contact departure controller, informing him airplane @ 1,300 feet , climbing 5,000 feet. departure controller instructed aircraft climb , maintain 13,000 feet.

data flight data recorder (fdr) showed events leading crash began @ 9:15:36, when aircraft hit wake turbulence jal flight in front of it. first officer attempted stabilize aircraft alternating aggressive rudder inputs left right. continued @ least 20 seconds, until 9:15:56, when stress of first officer s repeated rudder movements caused lugs attached vertical stabilizer , rudder fail. stabilizer separated aircraft , fell jamaica bay, 1 mile north of main wreckage site. 8 seconds later, stall warning sounded on cockpit voice recorder.

at moment stabilizer separated aircraft, plane pitched downwards, headed straight belle harbor. pilots struggled control aircraft, went flat spin. resulting aerodynamic loads sheared both engines aircraft seconds before impact. engines landed several blocks north , east of main wreckage site. losing engines cut off power fdr @ 9:16:00, while cvr (cockpit voice recorder), utilizing battery backup, cut off @ 9:16:15 moments before impact ground. main impact location intersection of newport avenue , beach 131st street.