Airbus A320-232 N509JB

Summary

On 21 January 2001 at about 13:08 local time, a Airbus A320-232 registered N509JB was involved in an incident near Jamaica, New York, United States. 145 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

21 January 2001 at 13:08

Classification

Incident

Location

Jamaica, New York, United States

Nearest airport

John F. Kennedy (JFK)

Coordinates

40.6383, -73.7617

Aircraft

Airbus A320-232

Registration

N509JB

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ontario → Jamaica

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC01IA068

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's decision to perform an auto rollout on a snow contaminated runway, which had not been demonstrated, and which resulted in a loss of directional control, when the capability of the autoland system to maintain directional control was exceeded. Factors were the failure of the control tower to ensure that the results of the latest MU reading were available to the pilots, the crosswind, and the snow covered runway.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight crew planned and briefed for an autoland to runway 4R, with winds from 340 degrees at 17 knots, and gusts to 23 knots. The runway had been plowed, and was covered with thin wet snow. On final approach to runway 4R, the control tower gave the pilots winds from 340 degrees at 15 knots, and braking action poor. About 1 second after nose wheel touchdown, the airplane deviated left and the auto-pilot system corrected back. About 11 seconds after touchdown, the airplane deviated left again, did not correct back, and the pilot disconnected the autopilot to regain directional control. He was unable to restore runway heading, and kept the airplane straight as it departed the runway on the left side. The MU readings given to the flight crew, and on the ATIS, of .28, .28, and .26 were 5 hours old. A more recent MU reading of .21, .23, and .24, was 3 hours old, and had not been placed on the ATIS. The control tower did not have a tracking procedure in place for adding revised MU readings to the ATIS, nor was it required. However, airport operations personnel reported they had transmitted the revised readings to the control tower. The airplane FCOM stated, "...automatic roll out performance has been approved on dry and wet runway, but performance has not been demonstrated on snow covered or icy runway." Heavy snow had been falling earlier. Light snow was reported at the 0506 and all subsequent weather observations. The runway was last plowed and treated 3 hours earlier. An FAA inspector reported the runway condition was loose snow over patches of hard packed snow and ice.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.