Wednesday, November 14, 2001

American Airlines crash kills at least 255 A300 explodes moments after takeoff from JFK By Michael Mainville Czech officials say they fear the crash of an American Airlines jet into a residential neighborhood in New York will deal another blow to U.S. confidence and the already-ailing airline industry. American Airlines Flight 587, an twin-engined Airbus A300 with a reported 255 passengers and crew, went down at 9:17 a.m. EST on Nov. 12 in the residential Rockaway section of the New York City borough of Queens about five miles (eight kilometers) from John F. Kennedy International Airport. It was bound for Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. AIRBUS A300-600 Seats: 266 Length: 177 feet (54 meters) Wing span: 147 feet Entered service: July 1988 Number of engines: 2 Engine: General Electric type CF6 Fuel: 16,380 gallons (62,244 liters) Range: 4,870 miles (7,770 km) There were no survivors, and fires on the ground were expected to claim more lives. The incident, which did not appear to be a terrorist act, came two months after Islamic extremists hijacked four commercial jetliners, plowing two of them into the city's World Trade Center. The Sept. 11 attacks left more than 4,500 people dead or missing. Government spokesman Libor Roucek, who ran the New York Marathon during Prime Minister Milos Zeman's recent U.S. trip, said he felt Americans were finally recuperating from the September attacks. "The people were recovering; the marathon was an important part of that," he said. "But I'm afraid this crash, no matter what the cause, is going to be another blow." Roucek said the Czech government was monitoring the situation in the United States and would take the necessary security steps if the incident was later linked to terrorism. After news of the crash, Interior Minister Stanislav Gross called a meeting of the country's Central Emergency Committee. It included officials from the Defense and Foreign ministries, the national police and the Czech intelligence service. Roucek lamented the effect the catastrophe would have on the international airline industry, which is already reeling. "This is dreadful for New York and the airline industry," Roucek said. "It's definitely another shock to the system for the airlines." Miroslav Belovsky, general manager of North America for Czech Airlines, predicted this crash would further hurt the industry. "Any crash in any country is a damage to the industry," he said. "People are afraid to fly. Now it will be even worse." Foreign Minister Jan Kavan and at least a half-dozen other Czech officials were at the United Nations in Manhattan to take part in the high-level General Assembly debate, postponed from September after the attacks. "We don't have very much information, but we know that everyone in the Czech delegation is OK," a Foreign Ministry source said. The United Nations adjourned its Nov. 12 sessions, citing security concerns. Flight 587 exploded two minutes after taking off from Kennedy. CNN reported two crash sites -- one where an engine landed and another where the bulk of the plane landed. Both sites were only a few blocks from a school, which had been closed for the Veterans Day holiday. A few hours after the plane went down, authorities were unable to say what may have caused the crash. Officials recovered one of the plane's two black boxes from the wreckage, and it was flown to Washington, D.C., for analysis. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said he did not believe the incident was related to terrorism. "We're being tested one more time, and we're going to pass this test," he told The New York Times. U.S. officials sealed off all bridges and tunnels into and out of New York City. They also shut down all area airports, forcing many international flights to be diverted. Shortly after the crash, Czech Airlines' Belovsky said a Newark-bound flight from Prague had not been diverted and was scheduled to land on time at the New Jersey airport. Czech Airline officials said they were prepared to divert flights to Montreal if New York-area airports remained closed. -- Jennifer Hamm contributed to this report. Michael Mainville's e-mail address is mmainville@praguepost.cz