Today In History: American Airlines Flight 587 Crash

By Idy Perl

On this day in 2001, the second-deadliest aviation accident in US history occurred in Belle Harbor, Queens. 

American Airlines Flight 587 took off from JFK Airport and was heading to the Dominican Republic. Shortly after takeoff the plane experienced turbulence and the pilot overused the rudder controls, which stressed the vertical stabilizer part of the plane’s tail and caused it to separate. 

The pilots lost control of the plan, and it crashed into the ground in the Belle Harbor neighborhood in Queens. All 251 passengers and 9 crew members on the plane were killed instantly, as well as 5 people on the ground. 

Since the accident occurred in New York just 2 months after 9/11, it initially caused a panic and fears of another terrorist attack. However, the National Transportation Safety Board quickly put their worries to rest by attributing the disaster to the pilot’s mistakes.