Accident: American B738 at Kingston on Dec 22nd 2009, overran runway on landing
Accident: American B738 at Kingston on Dec 22nd 2009, overran runway on landing
By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, Jan 6th 2010 19:36Z, last updated Wednesday, Jan 6th 2010 19:39ZJamaica's Civil Aviation Authority reported first results of the investigation in a press conference on Jan 6th 2010.
Air Traffic Control offered a circling approach to runway 30 in order to land in a headwind, the crew however declined and elected to land on runway 12 with a tailwind of 14 knots.
The crew gained visual contact with the runway between 1000 and 700 feet AGL and were not concerned at all with the approach.
The airplane touched down about 4100 feet (1250 meters) down the 8900 feet (2713 meters) long runway 12 at 161 knots ground speed in heavy rain and gusting winds and bounced before settling on the runway. The airplane overran the end of the runway at a ground speed of 62 knots.
The investigation still tries to determine why the airplane landed long. Analysis of cockpit voice and flight data recorders is still ongoing. The investigation also focusses on the actual weather at the time of the accident, runway friction tests have been scheduled to start Jan 6th. Tyres, brakes and several other parts are being sent to the US for closer examination.