AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 965

American Airlines Flight 965

American Airlines Flight 965

Introduction

American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757 registered N651AA, was a scheduled flight from Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali, Colombia, which crashed into a mountain in Buga, Colombia on December 20, 1995, killing 151 passengers and 8 crew members. (American Airlines 2005)The crash was the first U.S.-owned 757 accident and the highest death toll of any accident in Colombia. It is also the highest death toll of any accident involving a Boeing 757 at that time. It was surpassed by Birgenair Flight 301 which crashed on 6 February 1996 with 189 fatalities. It was the deadliest air disaster involving a U.S. carrier since the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. Four passengers survived the crash, all of whom were seated in the same row.

Discussion

On December 20, 1995, American Airlines Flight 965 was on a flight from Miami, Florida, to Cali, Colombia, when the Boeing 757 crashed into mountainous terrain during a descent from cruise altitude. The crash site was near the town of Buga, 33 miles northeast of the Cali VOR. (Boeing 2005)The aircraft struck near the summit of El Deluvio, at about the 8,900-foot level, approximately 10 miles east of course. Of the 163 persons on board, four passengers survived the accident.

The following transcript of the Cockpit Voice Recorder begins up approximately 16 minutes before impact, as the flight was about to start its descent from cruising altitude. Up until that point, the cockpit crew had been engaged in a conversation about duty time rules. The CVR transcript is annotated with notes from the Flight Data Recorder readout. (Coombs 2001:321)

American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757 registered N651AA, was a scheduled flight from Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali, Colombia, which crashed into a mountain in Buga, Colombia on December 20, 1995, killing 151 passengers and 8 crew members. (Fairbank 2004:1)The crash was the first U.S.-owned 757 accident and the highest death toll of any accident in Colombia. It is also the highest death toll of any accident involving a Boeing 757 at that time. It was the deadliest air disaster involving a U.S. carrier since the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. Four passengers survived the crash, all of whom were seated in the same row. The Columbian Aeronatica Civil investigated the accident and determined it was caused by navigational errors by the flight crew.

American Airlines Flight 965 was a flight that flew from Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida to Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport in Cali, Colombia. The plane on the flight crashed into a mountain in South America on December 20, 1995. (Fairbanks 2001:1)On that day, the flight used a Boeing 757 carrying 156 passengers and 8 crew members. At 9:40 PM, just five minutes before its scheduled arrival, the plane went down in the Andes, in the first fatal ...