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American Airlines Airbus Industrie A-300 accident

12 Jul 1989 · San Juan, PR, United States

Airbus Industrie A-300 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object during pushback

From Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU) to Las Américas International Airport (MDSD)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA89FA194
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
1 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
1
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

Airbus Industrie A-300

Aircraft type
Airbus A-300
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
N7062A
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU), SUN JUAN, PRTo Las Américas International Airport (MDSD), Santo Domingo
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
Pushback/towing
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
None

Cause areas

  • Ground personnel › Procedures/directives, not followed

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

NTSB narrative

THE AIRBUS A300 (AMERICAN FLT 699) WAS BEING PUSHED BACK BY A RAMP CREW IN PREPARATION FOR A SCHEDULED INTL PASSENGER FLT. WITNESSES STATED THAT THEY OBSERVED THE RAMP GUIDE (WHO WAS USING THE GROUND-TO-COCKPIT MICROPHONE) WALK BEHIND THE NOSE GEAR AT LEAST ONCE BEFORE THE ACDNT OCCURRED. SUBSEQUENTLY, AS HE WAS WALKING BEHIND THE NOSE GEAR AGAIN, HE STUMBLED & THE NOSE GEAR TIRES ROLLED OVER HIS UPPER BODY, WHICH RESULTED IN CRUSHING THORACIC INJURIES. RECORDS SHOWED THAT THE RAMP GUIDE HAD RCVD SAFETY TRAINING & WAS QUALIFIED FOR THE DUTIES THAT HE WAS PERFORMING.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF THE RAMP GUIDE (GROUND PERSONNEL) TO FOLLOW NORMAL SAFETY PROCEDURES. HIS OVER CONFIDENCE IN HIS PERSONAL ABILITY WAS CONSIDERED TO BE A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA89FA194
Event ID
20001213X28889
Case number
MIA89FA194
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: investigation status, damage. 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: 45a2e2d8de95fd91f01c933c70e7452ba872e1047fe3b86dabdaaf0a291c83f3; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:10:16.035Z.