American Airlines Flight 625
Boeing 727 · Runway overrun caused by pilot error
From Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD) to Cyril E. King Airport (STT)
Event
- 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
- Unknown
- Event fatalities
- 37 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 88
- Survivors
- 51
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 39 · 1 on the ground
- 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
- Flight
- AA625
- 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
- N1963
- Operator
- American Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD)To Cyril E. King Airport (STT)
- 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 (scheduled international passenger service)
- 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- Defining eventThe 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
- Overshoot
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Failed to follow approved procedures, directives, etc.
- Pilot in command › Misjudged distance and speed
- Weather › Unfavorable wind conditions
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
American Airlines Flight 625, a Boeing 727, crashed at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands on April 27, 1976, while on a domestic scheduled passenger flight originating at T. F. Green Airport in Rhode Island and ending at Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, with an intermediate stop at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Out of the 88 occupants on board, 37 were killed in the accident.
Background
The airport in St. Thomas was notorious among pilots for its short (4658 ft) runway. In fact, the Boeing 727 was the heaviest aircraft type authorized to use it, and even then it was only authorized in one direction.
Accident
The American Airlines Boeing 727-195, registration N1963 overran the departure end of Runway 9 when landing at Harry S. Truman airport. The aircraft ran off the end of the runway and into a Shell gas station, killing 37 (35 passengers and 2 flight attendants) of the 88 on board. Thirty-eight other passengers and crew were injured, and one person on the ground was seriously injured. The probable cause was the captain's actions and his judgment in not being aware that when he touched down 2300 ft down the 4658 ft runway, he did not have enough distance to perform a go-around.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Ultimately, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) attributed the accident to pilot error on the approach. The maximum flap setting of 40 degrees was never applied, which meant that the aircraft's speed was 10 kn higher than VREF as it crossed the runway threshold. This, combined with the fact that the aircraft 'floated' from turbulent winds in the area, meant that it was already 2300 ft down the runway at the point of touchdown. The pilots did not brake, and proceeded to apply full throttle three seconds after touchdown in an attempt at a go-around. However, they were unable to reach takeoff speed because the 727's engines are slow-responding, taking about 6.6 seconds to power up. After five seconds of waiting for power, and with only 700 ft of runway left, the pilot panicked, according to the report, and applied full brakes. Further, the pilot forgot to apply reverse engine thrust until immediately before impact.
Text from the Wikipedia article “American Airlines Flight 625” (revision 1374220429, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB remarks
USED 30DEG FLAPS INSTEAD OF 40DEG.INITIATED G/A INSUFF RWY RMNG,ABORTED.NO INFO ACFT G/A PERF.
NTSB's remark from its 1962–1981 archive, as recorded (abbreviated, at most 98 characters): the archive has no narrative
Sources
Wikipedia article: American Airlines Flight 625
- Article
- American Airlines Flight 625
- Revision
- 1374220429 · 2026-09-10 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4742949
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record
- Event ID
- 19760427P061463
- Case number
- Unknown
- Dataset
- historical-pre1982
- Source SHA-256
- abe1a933b4b73583d61684309f7f0610c281e3c1de3537c6471bf2a98ba6481d
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "American Airlines Flight 625" (page 1922454, revision 1374220429); merged with NTSB case NTSB19760427P061463 (PRE1982 tblFirstHalf (one row per aircraft, grouped by date, place and time))
- Date
- NTSB record NTSB19760427P061463: PRE1982 DATE_OCCURRENCE
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17); country from NTSB record NTSB19760427P061463
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record NTSB19760427P061463: PRE1982 REGIST_NO, ACFT_MAKE, ACFT_MODEL; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record NTSB19760427P061463: operated under Part 121: Air carrier (scheduled intl passg service)
- Fatalities
- NTSB record NTSB19760427P061463: PRE1982 TOTAL_ABRD_FATAL of each aircraft, plus people on the ground and others outside the aircraft
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record NTSB19760427P061463: events.inj_f_grnd
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (4)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "American Airlines Flight 625" and NTSB case NTSB19760427P061463, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- From NTSB's 1962-1981 archive (PRE1982), which holds at most a short remark (98 characters, abbreviated) instead of a narrative; the accident type, phase of flight, causes and conditions are NTSB's codes, decoded as the archive defines them.
- Reviewed means this record passed the site's consistency check, not that it was checked against a narrative or report - there is none to check against.
- The operation category is mapped from the archive's operator and operation codes and has not been reviewed.