History of Flight
On April 10, 2019, about 2040 eastern daylight time, American Airlines flight 300, an Airbus A321 (registration N114NN), experienced a left roll during takeoff from runway 31L at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Queens, New York. During the left roll, the airplane’s left wingtip struck the ground and a runway distance marker on the left side of the runway. The flight crew completed the takeoff and safely returned to the airport 28 minutes later. None of the 110 occupants aboard the airplane were injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The regularly scheduled passenger flight was operating under Title 14 Code Federal Regulations Part 121 from JFK to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed.
Crew and Preflight
The accident flight was the second day of a 2-day crew pairing. The crew had operated a flight from LAX arriving at JFK about 0700 on the day of the accident and had scheduled rest at a local hotel. They reported for the accident flight about 1 hour 15 minutes before departure. The first officer conducted the preflight walk-around, and both crewmembers reviewed weather and route. The captain stated everything was “looking good”. The airplane pushed back on time with flaps 1 set, taxied to runway 31L, and held short.
Takeoff and Control Inputs
According to the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), tower cleared the flight to line up and wait at 2038:43, and the captain taxied onto the runway. At 2039:48, the controller cleared for takeoff, reporting wind from 010° at 17 knots. The digital flight data recorder (DFDR) showed symmetric thrust, no braking asymmetry, and nose wheel steering inputs. Left rudder pedal inputs ranged between 0° and 13° as the airplane accelerated, consistent with a right crosswind. The captain reported applying left rudder and keeping near centerline; at 80 knots, “everything was ok.” At V1 (150 knots), the first officer called out; less than 2 seconds later at rotate (156 knots), the captain noted a “significant” turn left. DFDR showed left rudder input increased from 8° to 25° in 1.5 seconds; lateral acceleration rose to 0.32 G; heading veered left. The captain applied full aft sidestick and right sidestick up to 16°.
At 2040:32, the captain's sidestick briefly changed from right to left deflection before maximum right as nose gear weight-off-wheels switched. Rudder deflected about 20° left. As nose gear lifted, the airplane rolled left. The captain stated he added right rudder and right aileron. At 2040:33, both sidesticks moved to maximum right deflection (20°) with a 3° left roll and increasing left roll rate. The CVR recorded “dual input” at 2040:34. At that time, rudder moved through neutral, pitch returned to neutral, pitch angle reached 10°, left roll was 26° with increasing rate, heading was 290° (25° left of centerline).
At 2040:35, left roll peaked at 37°, both sidesticks remained full right roll and max nose-up. One second later, a sound consistent with a wing strike was recorded. DFDR showed left aileron moved toward neutral without corresponding right aileron or sidestick change, consistent with ground contact. Rudder pedals reached full right, left main landing gear weight-off-wheels as roll angle decreased. As roll decreased, the captain made left rudder input and moved sidestick to max left. At 2040:37, radio altitude 27 ft, airspeed 164 knots, pitch 20.4°. Next second, rudder moved toward neutral, sidestick to full right, pitch forward through neutral as airplane rolled left. At 2040:39, first officer stated “I don’t know what’s goin’ on.” Left roll reached 20°, max pitch 24° at 2040:40, then rolled back to wings level, pitch decreasing to 14° over 2 seconds as rudder returned to neutral and sidestick moved left then neutral. Vertical acceleration dropped to 0.58 G.
From 2040:41 to 2040:43, rudder inputs ceased, rudder returned to neutral. Captain’s lateral sidestick inputs continued; airplane recovered from 20° right roll and climbed normally. At 2040:45, captain exclaimed; first officer responded “I don’t know” and “the engines all…good.” At 2040:59, captain said “it just (expletive) rolled on me.”
Return and Post-Flight
At 2047:37, first officer suggested returning to JFK; captain agreed after discussion. At 2049:57, first officer contacted air traffic control, reporting a strong left roll during rotation and a desire to return. They did not declare an emergency as the airplane was flying well. The flight leveled at 20,000 ft and received vectors back to JFK. At 2050:52, captain transferred control to first officer. A flight attendant reported that a passenger saw the left wing looked dented. The airplane landed uneventfully at 21:08:36.
Aircraft and Meteorology
The accident airplane was an Airbus A321 (N114NN), operated by American Airlines since April 11, 2014. No deferred maintenance items were noted. The flight control system was fly-by-wire with side-stick controllers. JFK’s ASOS reported wind from 354° at 14 knots gusting to 18 knots at 2039; at 2040, 2-minute average from 354° at 16 knots gusting 20 knots, indicating crosswind 14–17 knots for runway 31L.
Damage and Analysis
Examination of runway 31L revealed a left main landing gear tire mark 564 ft long, a right main gear mark 216 ft long, and a left wingtip scrape mark 323 ft long. The left wing impacted a distance remaining marker. The airplane had damage to the left wing outboard slat, left aileron, left outboard flap, and underside left wingtip sharklet. The left wing had a permanent upward deflection starting midspan, wingtip about 6 inches higher than right. American Airlines retired and scrapped the airplane.
Airbus conducted a handling qualities analysis using its A321 engineering simulator with recorded pilot inputs and weather conditions. The simulation matched the DFDR response in lateral and longitudinal axes, and the airplane responded nominally to the inputs. No anomalies were found in the accident airplane’s response.
American Airlines examined takeoff data from over 270,000 A321 flights. The accident flight had the longest duration of rudder application and a higher maximum rudder deflection than any other flight in the dataset, despite many flights having larger crosswind components.