American Airlines Flight 901
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 · Accident: uncontrolled altitude deviation en route
From Miami International Airport (KMIA) to Ezeiza International Airport - Ministro Pistarini (SAEZ)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA94FA169
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
McDonnell Douglas MD-11
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas MD-11
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N1752K
- Operator
- American Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Miami International Airport (KMIA), Miami, FLTo Ezeiza International Airport - Ministro Pistarini (SAEZ), Buenos Aires
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 121: Air Carrier
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · cruise
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Uncontrolled altitude deviation
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Other crewmember › Miscellaneous equipment, initiated
Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.
NTSB narrative
WHILE EN ROUTE THE CAPTAIN WENT TO THE MAIN CABIN FOR A REST PERIOD AND THE RESERVE FIRST OFFICER TOOK THE CAPTAIN'S SEAT. A FLIGHT ATTENDANT ENTERED THE COCKPIT TO BRING A BOX OF BEVERAGES FOR THE FLIGHT CREW. SHE ATTEMPTED TO PLACE THEM ON THE FOOTREST OF THE CENTER OBSERVER'S SEAT AS DIRECTED BY THE RESERVE FIRST OFFICER. SHE HAD TROUBLE DOING THIS AND THE RESERVE FIRST OFFICER REALIZED THE FIRST OFFICER'S SEAT WAS IN THE WAY. HE REACHED ACROSS THE COCKPIT AND WITHOUT THE FIRST OFFICER'S KNOWLEDGE ACTIVATED THE HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT SWITCH FOR THE FIRST OFFICER'S SEAT MOVING IT FORWARD. THE FIRST OFFICER'S LEGS WERE CROSSED AND CONTACTED THE CONTROL COLUMN PUSHING IT FORWARD. THE LIMITATIONS OF THE AUTOPILOT SYSTEM WERE EXCEEDED AND THE AUTOPILOT TURNED OFF. THE AIRCRAFT RESPONDED TO THE FORWARD CONTROL COLUMN INPUT AND PITCHED DOWN. THIS RESULTED IN INJURIES TO PASSENGERS AND CREW. THE FIRST OFFICER TOOK MANUAL CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT AFTER AUTOPILOT DISCONNECT AND RETURNED THE AIRCRAFT TO LEVEL FLIGHT.
Probable cause
THE RESERVE FIRST OFFICER'S UNAUTHORIZED MOVEMENT OF THE FIRST OFFICER'S SEAT DURING FLIGHT WHICH RESULTED IN THE FIRST OFFICER'S LEGS BEING FORCED AGAINST THE CONTROL COLUMN, PUSHING IT FORWARD, AND DISCONNECTING THE AUTOPILOT. THIS RESULTED IN THE AIRCRAFT PITCHING DOWN AND SUBJECTING THE OCCUPANTS TO NEGATIVE G FORCES, RESULTING IN INJURIES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA94FA169
- Event ID
- 20001206X01590
- Case number
- MIA94FA169
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 01ac076cda2798fdf5bc2f615b588ba40d852f44e3051a6ce653182868f361b1; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:14:34.358Z.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N1752K; the operator shown is the name the NTSB's other records give its FAA operator code, AALA.