ATR 72Executive Airlines
San Juan, PR, USA · 2004-05-09·N438AT
What happened
NTSB summary, verbatimThe Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-05/02. On May 9, 2004, about 1450 Atlantic standard time, Executive Airlines (doing business as American Eagle) flight 5401, an Avions de Transport Regional 72-212, N438AT, skipped once, bounced hard twice, and then crashed at Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico. The airplane came to a complete stop on a grassy area about 217 feet left of the runway 8 centerline and about 4,317 feet beyond the runway threshold. The captain was seriously injured; the first officer, 2 flight attendants, and 16 of the 22 passengers received minor injuries; and the remaining 6 passengers received no injuries. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a scheduled passenger flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.
Probable cause
the Board's determinationthe captain's failure to execute proper techniques to recover from the bounced landings and his subsequent failure to execute a go-around.
Safety recommendations
3 issuedwhat changed because of this accidentTO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Require all 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 and 135 air carriers to incorporate bounced landing recovery techniques in their flight manuals and to teach these techniques during initial and recurrent training.
TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Require the replacement of aileron surface position sensors installed in accordance with Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) No. ST01310NY with more reliable aileron surface position sensors within 1 year or at the next heavy maintenance check, whichever comes first, after the issuance of an approved STC. Until reliable aileron surface position sensors have been installed, require flight data recorder functional checks every 6 months and replacement of faulty sensors, as necessary.
TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Conduct a review of all flight data recorder systems that have been modified by a supplemental type certificate to determine the reliability of all sensors used as flight control surface position sensors. If the review determines that a sensor does not provide reliable flight control surface position data, require that the sensor be replaced with a more reliable sensor.
NTSB analysis
from the final reportThe Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-05/02. On May 9, 2004, about 1450 Atlantic standard time, Executive Airlines (doing business as American Eagle) flight 5401, an Avions de Transport Regional 72-212, N438AT, skipped once, bounced hard twice, and then crashed at Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico. The airplane came to a complete stop on a grassy area about 217 feet left of the runway 8 centerline and about 4,317 feet beyond the runway threshold. The captain was seriously injured; the first officer, 2 flight attendants, and 16 of the 22 passengers received minor injuries; and the remaining 6 passengers received no injuries. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a scheduled passenger flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.