What happened
On the day of the accident, Fine Air Flight 101 was rerouted from its original scheduled aircraft, N30UA, to a substitute DC-8, registration N27UA, following a delay with the inbound plane. The flight was intended to transport cargo for Aeromar from Miami to Santo Domingo. During the loading process, a security guard directed the cargo loaders to follow a weight distribution plan that was actually intended for the original aircraft, N30UA. This error resulted in the cargo being loaded in a manner that placed the aircraft's center of gravity at or beyond its aft limit.
After the crew and a security guard boarded, the aircraft departed the hangar ramp and received taxi clearance for runway 27R at approximately 12:35. During the takeoff roll, the crew performed a standard elevator check at 80 knots. Shortly after reaching V1 speed, the aircraft rotated; however, immediately following rotation, the plane pitched upward into a stall. Although the crew attempted to recover, the aircraft entered a second stall. The DC-8 subsequently struck the ground in a tail-first, right-wing-down orientation, sliding across 72nd Avenue and crashing into the International Airport Center, where it caught fire. There were 3 fatalities among the crew members.
Findings
Investigations determined that the primary cause of the accident was an improper cargo loading procedure. Because the loaders used the weight distribution form for the wrong aircraft, the center of gravity was positioned too far aft. This imbalance caused the aircraft's trim to be misconfigured by at least 1.5 units in a nose-up direction, creating an unmanageable pitch control issue during the takeoff phase.