American Airlines Flight 331

On 22 December 2009, an American Airlines Boeing 737-800, operating American Airlines Flight 331 (Washington, D.C.–Miami–Kingston, Jamaica) and carrying 148 passengers and 6 crew, overran runway 12 on landing at Kingston in poor weather. The plane continued on the ground outside the airport perimeter and broke apart on the beach. Of the 154 people on board, 85 people were injured, including 14 seriously.

Factors contributing to the crash include the speed of the aircraft upon landing and the plane touching down more than 4000 feet from the threshold of the runway. Contributing factors included American Airlines' failure to provide training on tailwind landings, and the FAA's failure to implement the NTSB's previous recommendation, following a previous fatal accident involving a tailwind landing attempt, that the FAA require commercial operators to train flight crews on tailwind landings.

Accident

The flight originated at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington, D.C., with a stopover at Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida. At 22:22 local time (03:22, 23 December UTC), the Boeing 737-823 skidded during landing on runway 12 and overran the pavement, sustaining serious damage. Heavy rain was reported at the time. After the accident, a special weather report was issued.

Some passengers indicated cabin service was suspended several times during the flight, before being canceled outright due to turbulence; others report the jet may have landed long on the runway.

It was also announced that some of the airport's approach lights were not working at the time of the accident. Jamaican officials downplayed the role of the malfunctioning lights in the crash, noting that aircrews had been notified and that the actual runway was properly lit. The ground-based navigation aids were evaluated by a check aircraft after the accident and were determined to be functioning normally.

The aircraft sustained substantial damage during the accident, with the entire fuselage fracturing forward and aft of the wing, one wing losing an engine and the other its winglet tip, and the nose section being crushed. The landing gear failed and put the aircraft on its belly. Its momentum carried it through the perimeter fence at freeway speeds, and across Norman Manley Highway before finally coming to rest upright, within meters of Kingston's outer harbor and the open Caribbean Sea. The 737 was damaged beyond economic repair, and was written off. The accident represents the sixth hull loss of a Boeing 737-800.