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Trans World Airlines Boeing 727-231 incident

25 Aug 1989 · Kenner, LA, United States

Boeing 727-231 · Incident: in flight collision with object during initial climb

From an unrecorded airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)

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Event

NTSB case
FTW89IA152
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
Incident
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

Boeing 727-231

Aircraft type
Boeing 727
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
N52309
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), NEW YORK, NY
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
Initial climb
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
In flight 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
Minor

Cause areas

  • Company/operator management › Procedures/directives, inaccurate
  • Pilot in command › Performance data, improper

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE SCHEDULED PASSENGER FLIGHT WAS DISPATCHED WITH 15 DEGREES FLAP TAKEOFF PERFORMANCE DATA FOR RUNWAY 10/28, WHICH WAS 9,228 FEET LONG. TAKEOFF ACTUALLY WAS FROM RUNWAY 19, WHICH WAS 7,000 FEET LONG. THE AIRPLANE LIFTED FROM THE SURFACE IN THE SAFETY AREA OF THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY AND THE LEFT MAIN LANDING GEAR STRUCK A LIGHTING CONTROL BOX FOR THE RAIL SYSTEM. A PORTION OF THE LANDING GEAR SCUPPER SEPARATED FROM THE AIRPLANE. THE FLIGHT CONTINUED TO ITS DESTINATION AND LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. PRIOR TO DEPARTURE, THE FLIGHT ENGINEER FILLED IN HIS PORTION OF THE TAKEOFF DATA SHEET AND HANDED IT TO THE CAPTAIN. THE CAPTAIN ANTICIPATED THAT RUNWAY 10 WOULD BE THE DEPARTURE RUNWAY AND HE PERFORMED TAKEOFF DATA CALCULATIONS USING RUNWAY 10 DATA. ATIS INFORMATION AND TAXI CLEARANCE CALLED FOR TAKEOFF ON RUNWAY 19. THE OPERATOR'S PROCEDURES DID NOT ASSIGN TAKEOFF DATA CALCULATIONS TO A SPECIFIC CREW MEMBER. PROCEDURES ALSO DID NOT CALL FOR VERIFICATION OF SUCH INFORMATION BY OTHER CREW

Probable cause

INACCURATE OPERATORS PROCEDURES/DIRECTIVES AND THE IMPROPER TAKEOFF PERFORMANCE DATA COMPUTED BY THE CAPTAIN. POOR FLIGHT CREW COORDINATION WAS CONSIDERED A FACTOR AS WELL A WRONG RUNWAY SELECTION FOR THE COMPUTED TAKEOFF DATA.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW89IA152
Event ID
20001213X29120
Case number
FTW89IA152
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: 6e953947a2fd6ff98547a79702e39406ae7c6760cc3c00964706d03d548b20f4; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:08:56.405Z.
  • The NTSB's operator name is blank for N52309; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.