Boeing 747-136 N605FF

Summary

On 20 December 1995 at about 16:36 local time, a Boeing 747-136 registered N605FF, operated by Tower Air, was involved in an accident near Jamaica, New York, United States. 468 people were on board and one was seriously injured, 24 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 December 1995 at 16:36

Classification

Accident

Location

Jamaica, New York, United States

Nearest airport

John F. Kennedy Intl (JFK)

Coordinates

40.6491, -73.7899

Aircraft

Boeing 747-136

Registration

N605FF

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

Tower Air

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Miami

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA96MA029

1 person was seriously injured.

the captain's failure to reject the takeoff in a timely manner when excessive nosewheel steering tiller inputs resulted in a loss of directional control on a slippery runway. Inadequate Boeing 747 slippery runway operating procedures developed by Tower Air, Inc., and the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group and the inadequate fidelity of B-747 flight training simulators for slippery runway operations contributed to the cause of this accident. The captain's reapplication of forward thrust before the airplane departed the left side of the runway contributed to the severity of the runway excursion and damage to the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The captain initiated a takeoff on runway 4L, which was covered with patches of ice and snow. The wind was from 330 degrees at 11 knots. Before receiving an 80-knot call from the 1st officer, the airplane began to veer to the left. Subsequently, it went off the left side of the runway and collided with signs and an electric transformer. Investigation revealed evidence that the captain had overcontrolled the nosewheel steering through the tiller, then applied insufficient or untimely right rudder inputs to effect a recovery. The captain abandoned an attempt to reject the takeoff, at least temporarily, by restoring forward thrust before the airplane departed the runway. The current Boeing 747 operating procedures provide inadequate guidance to flightcrews regarding the potential for loss of directional control at low speeds on slippery runways with the use of the tiller. Current Boeing 747 flight manual guidance was inadequate about when a pilot should reject a takeoff following some indication of a lack of directional control response. Improvements in the slippery runway handling fidelity of flight simulators used for Boeing 747 pilot training were considered to be both needed and feasible. (See: NTSB/AAR-96-04 for detailed information.)

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.