An American Airlines passenger plane crashed in a residential neighborhood of New York City yesterday morning.
Nine crewmembers and 246 passengers are presumed dead after Flight 587 crashed shortly after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport. The plane went down near the airport in Queens, starting several fires in homes.
The jet, an Airbus A300-600, was en route to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic when it crashed at 9:15 a.m.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators, known as a ‘Go Team,’ arrived in New York and began collecting evidence. The cause of the crash is as yet unknown.
“The Safety Board is investigating the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in New York. A ‘Go Team’ has arrived at the scene in New York,” an NTSB spokesman said. “One of the recorders has been found and is en route to Washington.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shut down area airports following the crash, but reopened the LaGuardia and Newark airports later in the day.
No flights were allowed to leave JFK, although incoming traffic was allowed to land. The FAA declined to comment on the crash and the closings.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefed reporters on President George W. Bush’s reaction to the news of the crash.
“The president called Mayor Giuliani and spoke with Governor Pataki, and the president expressed to both of them his deepest sympathy for the people of New York to be enduring any other such trauma at a time when New York has already gone through so much,” Fleischer said. “The president said to both that the federal government will do everything it can to help.”
The cause of the crash is unknown, and officials warn that no explanation is being ignored.
“On the question of whether there’s any terrorism, as I indicated at the beginning, first information is always subject to change. We have not ruled anything in, not ruled anything out,” Fleischer said. “But as I mentioned, the investigation is being headed by the National Transportation Safety Board to try to determine the cause of it.”
American Airlines has set up a toll-free phone number for family members searching for loved ones. The number is 1-800-245-0999.
“American Airlines will not speculate as to possible causes of the accident. At this point, no additional details can be confirmed,” American said in a released statement. “American Airlines officials are in direct contact with officials of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, and American is cooperating fully with federal, state and local authorities.”
The crash is the first fatal incident in the United States of an Airbus A300-600. The series has been in service since March of 1984. American Flight 587 was built in southern France by Airbus in 1988.
On the Net: Airbus: http://www1.airbus.com/; American Airlines: http://www.aa.com; the NTSB: http://www.ntsb.gov; the FAA: http://www.faa.gov; the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov; the City of New York: http://www.nyc.gov
