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American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-80 accident

16 Oct 1991 · Newark, NJ, United States

McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and Continental Airlines Boeing 737-291 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object while taxiing

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Event

NTSB case
NYC92FA009
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

Aircraft 1 · McDonnell Douglas MD-80

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
N498AA
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), RALEIGH/DURHAM, NCTo not recorded
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
Taxi · from runway
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
On ground/water collision with object
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Aircraft 2 · Boeing 737-291

Aircraft type
Boeing 737
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
N7385F
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), PITTSBURG, PATo not recorded
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
Taxi · from runway
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
On ground/water collision with object
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Information, not issued
  • Pilot in command › Identification of aircraft visually, not obtained
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Identification of aircraft visually, not obtained
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Newark, NJ, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

BOTH AIRPLANES LANDED IN SEQUENCE ON RUNWAY 4R, AND WERE PROCEEDING TO THEIR RESPECTIVE GATES. THE AMERICAN MD-80 LANDED FIRST. THE CONTINENTAL BOEING 737 WAS TOLD TO CROSS RUNWAY 4L AND CONTACT GROUND AFTER CROSSING. THE COLLISION OCCCURRED AT THE INTERSECTION OF TAXIWAYS 'R' AND 'K'. BOTH FLIGHT CREWS WERE OCCUPIED WITH COCKPIT DUTIES AND DID NOT SEE EACH OTHER PRIOR TO THE COLLISION. NEITHER CREW RECEIVED TRAFFIC INFORMATION OR A WARNING FROM ATC PRIOR TO THE IMPACT. THE ATC SPECIALISTS IN THE TOWER WERE DISTRACTED BY A MAINTENANCE AIRPLANE TAXING NEAR RUNWAY 11. THE LOCAL AND GROUND CONTROLLERS SAID THEY THOUGHT THE AIRPLANES WOULD NOT COLLIDE, SO THEY DID NOT ISSUE A WARNING OR TRAFFIC INFORMATION. THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED ON A CLEAR NIGHT AND WEATHER WAS NOT A FACTOR.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF THE CREW OF THE B-737, N7385F, TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT WHILE TAXIING, AND FAILURE BY AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS TO PROVIDE TRAFFIC INFORMATION AND/OR ISSUE WARNINGS TO EITHER FLIGHTCREW. A FACTOR WAS THE AFTER-LANDING TASK SATURATION OF BOTH FLIGHTCREWS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC92FA009
Event ID
20001212X18361
Case number
NYC92FA009
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1991-10-17.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: c522fd43ab0325b23413e6ddb7db864b00e92c64377cbe86d90bb7f81b8783a0; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:51:13.434Z.