AA Land Short
American Airlines jet lands short of runway at DIA
DENVER - An American Airlines jet sustained tire and engine damage, and destroyed signs and lights at Denver International Airport Sunday when it landed 1000 feet short of its intended runway and came down on an asphalt extension to the runway instead. The jet sustained tire and engine damage, and destroyed signs and lights in the rough landing Sunday.
Fortunately no one on board was injured, and the airplane managed to taxi to the gate safely.
"This could have been a more catastrophic accident at some airport other than DIA" said former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Greg Feith, referring the long extensions to DIA's runways that don't exist at many other major airports.
Flight 115 from Dallas was coming in for landing around 10:30 am, and was using instruments to help with landing according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The airplane is a Boeing MD-80, the most common type of aircraft in the American Airlines fleet.
That runway, known as 35-L, was closed for most of the day Sunday as investigators from the NTSB worked to determine the cause of the accident. The runway is reopened Monday.
The FAA and NTSB are both investigating the crash.
American Airlines did not return a phone call from 9news