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New CNN story (ta, methylsalicylate) UPDATED: quote:caption: Smoke rises Monday morning from the crash site in Queens, New York.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- An American Airlines jet with 255 people on board crashed Monday on takeoff from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The plane went down at 9:17 a.m. EST in the Rockways section of the New York City borough of Queens, about five miles from Kennedy Airport.
CNN confirmed the plane was American Airlines Flight 587 from New York to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The plane was a Boeing Airbus A300. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the plane was carrying 246 passengers and nine crew members.
Asked if terrorism was suspected, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Bill Schumann said, "All options are open at this time. We have very limited information."
The Pentagon said surveillance fights were going on in the area and nothing unusual had been spotted.
At least four houses were on fire, and a huge plume of smoke could be seen rising from the site. The New York Fire Department dispatched 44 firetrucks and 200 firefighters to the scene.
All three New York City-area airports -- Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark -- closed after the crash, along with all the city's bridges and tunnels. Mayor Rudy Giuliani declared a Level One emergency, mobilizing all available police, fire and emergency personnelSounds like a crash on takeoff to me. From Boeing's safety page (thanks, Google cache!)
quote:What's the riskiest portion of a flight?
Takeoff and the climb to cruising altitude, and the descent and landing of an airplane are the two most risk-prone periods of a flight. In overly simplistic terms, takeoff demands the most from an airplane in terms of engine thrust and structural integrity, while final approach and landing demand the most of the cockpit crew. About three-fourths of all serious accidents occur during these two relatively brief phases of a flight.Also pertinent: 13 Hazards of Takeoff from airdisaster.com.
[ 12-11-2001: Message edited by: Rothkoid ] |
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