American Airlines Flight 102

American Airlines Flight 102 was a flight operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 from Honolulu International Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. On landing, it was raining and there were numerous thunderstorms in the area. Shortly after touchdown on runway 17L,[lower-alpha 1] the pilot lost directional control as the aircraft began to weathervane, and it departed the right side of the runway. All 202 occupants on board survived, with two passengers suffering serious injuries during the emergency evacuation. The aircraft was badly damaged and was written off.

American Airlines Flight 102
The wreckage of the aircraft
Accident
DateApril 14, 1993 (1993-04-14)
SummaryRunway excursion
SiteDallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, United States
Aircraft
Aircraft typeMcDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
OperatorAmerican Airlines
IATA flight No.AA102
ICAO flight No.AAL102
Call signAMERICAN 102
RegistrationN139AA
Flight originHonolulu International Airport
DestinationDallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Passengers189
Crew13
Fatalities0
Injuries40
Survivors202

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the cause of the accident was the failure of the captain to use proper directional control technique during the landing roll.[1]

Aircraft and crew

Aircraft
The aircraft involved in the incident, operating for Pan Am under the registration of N80NA

The aircraft involved in the incident was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 (registration N139AA)[2] It was delivered to National Airlines in 1973 with the registration N80NA and was named Bing Crosby. After National Airlines was acquired by Pan Am, the aircraft was transferred to Pan Am in January 1980 and was named Clipper Star of the Union with the same registration. In February 1984, the aircraft was delivered to American Airlines and got the registration N139AA and had been operated continuously by the airline since, accumulating a total of 74,831 flight hours.[3][4]

Flight crew

The aircraft had a flight crew of three. The captain, 59-year-old Kenneth Kruslyak, had a total of 12,562 flight hours, 555 of which were in the DC-10. He was employed by American Airlines on August 1, 1966, and was designated as a captain in the DC-10 in November 1991. Kruslyak held an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate and was type rated in the DC-10, Boeing 727, and DC-9, with a commercial type rating in the Boeing 377.[1]: 24  The first officer, 40-year-old David Harrell, had 4,454 flight hours with American Airlines, 554 of which were in the DC-10. The flight engineer, 60-year-old Francis Roggenbuck, held a current Flight Engineer certificate. He was employed by American Airlines in October 1955. Roggenbuck had a total of 20,000 flight hours, all of which were as a flight engineer, and 4,800 hours of which were in the DC-10.[1]: 24–25 [5]

Cabin crew and passengers

The aircraft was carrying ten cabin crew and 189 passengers.[6][7]

Crash

As the aircraft landed, it began to weathervane and departed the right side of runway 17L.[lower-alpha 1] The aircraft dug into deep mud, collapsing the nose landing gear, and damaging the left engine and the left wing. A small fire was quickly extinguished by firefighters who arrived from a nearby airport fire station. The aircraft came to rest along an adjacent taxiway and was steeply tilted to one side, causing some evacuation slides to deploy improperly; during the ensuing emergency evacuation, two passengers fell from the slides, suffering serious injuries. Three crew and 35 passengers suffered minor injuries in the crash and emergency evacuation.[6][7]

Investigation
The aircraft being recovered from the runway, as another American Airlines DC-10 takes off

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the cause of the accident was:[1]

At the time flight AA102 landed at DFW Airport, it was raining and there were numerous thunderstorms in the area. Shortly after touchdown on runway 17L, the pilot lost directional control when the airplane began to weathervane and the captain failed to use sufficient rudder control to regain the proper ground track. The airplane eventually departed the right side of the runway. At the time of landing the wind (a cross wind) was blowing at 15 knots with gusts approximately 5 knots above the steady wind speed.

Aftermath

N139AA was damaged beyond repair and was written off. American Airlines continues to use flight number 102 on the same route from Honolulu to DFW using a Boeing 787.

See also

References

Notes
  1. Present-day runway 17C.

Citations
  1. "Runway Departure Following Landing, American Airlines Flight 102, McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, N139AA, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, April 14, 1993" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. 1994-02-14. NTSB/AAR-94/01. Retrieved 2022-02-25. - Copy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
  2. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 N139AA Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, TX (DFW)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  3. "N139AA American Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  4. "Crash of a Douglas DC-10-30 in Dallas". www.baaa-acro.com. Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  5. Phillips, Don (1993-07-15). "COPILOT OF CRASHED JET HAD SOUGHT TO ABORT LANDING". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  6. "NTSB Aviation Accident Final Report DCA93MA040". National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  7. St. Pierre, Nancy; Box, Terry; Lincoln Michel, Karen; Freedenthal, Stacey (1993-04-15). "30 Hurt After Jet Slides Off Runway – Passengers Injured During Exit on Escape Chutes". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, Texas.
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