What happened
A flight traveling from New York-JFK toward Miami International Airport was operating under favorable weather and nighttime conditions. During the approach phase, the captain ordered the landing gear to be deployed; however, the three green indication lights failed to illuminate. In an attempt to troubleshoot the issue, the second officer entered the forward electronics bay to inspect the nose landing gear position indicators, but the problem remained unresolved.
After notifying Air Traffic Control of the malfunction, the crew was cleared to climb to 2,000 feet. While the crew focused on resolving the gear indication error, they failed to notice that the aircraft was steadily losing altitude. Although an aural warning triggered when the plane deviated by approximately 250 feet from its assigned altitude, no corrective action was taken by the flight crew. At 23:41 local time, ATC instructed the aircraft to turn to a heading of 180 degrees. Shortly after this instruction, the first officer noticed an altitude discrepancy. Seven seconds later, while the aircraft was in a 28-degree left bank, the left engine made contact with the ground. The aircraft type subsequently crashed in Everglades National Park, roughly 20 miles from the runway threshold, and broke apart upon impact.
The accident resulted in 99 fatalities and 77 survivors immediately following the crash. Tragically, two of the survivors later succumbed to their injuries, bringing the total death toll to 101 people, including five crew members.
Findings
Investigations revealed that the primary cause was the flight crew's failure to monitor flight instruments during the final minutes of the flight, which prevented them from detecting the unexpected descent. The crew became distracted by a malfunction in the nose landing gear position indicator system, specifically due to burned-out bulbs in the indication system.
Additional findings included:
- The second officer and a jump seat occupant inspected the electronics bay but could not visually confirm the gear status.
- The crew did not respond to the altitude alert that sounded as the plane descended through 1,750 feet MSL.
- There were no mechanical or structural failures of the engines or airframe prior to impact, other than the indicator bulbs.
- The captain failed to ensure continuous monitoring of the aircraft's flight path by a crew member.
- The autopilot was being used in CWS mode, and the crew was unaware of how little force was needed to change the aircraft's attitude in this mode.