Crash of American Airlines Flight 1340 An American Airlines' Boeing 727 operating as flight 1340 from Kansas City to Chicago met with an accident on February 9, 1998 (0954 central standard time), while landing at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD). Although there were no fatalities, 22 passengers and 1 flight attendant (out of the 116 passengers, 3 flight crewmembers, and 3 flight attendants on board) received minor injuries, and the airplane was substantially damaged. This is a research paper which traces the sequence of events leading to the accident, describes the crash and its aftermath, and analyzes its possible causes.

Sequence of Events Leading to the Crash

0843 hrs:

Flight 1340 departs from Kansas City International Airport on February 9, 1998 after a one-hour delay in the scheduled flight time because of poor weather conditions at the O'Hare International Airport, Chicago. ("Aircraft Accident Brief," 1998, p.1)

0936:51 hrs:

After an uneventful flight, the flight crew makes initial contact with the west arrival controller at the Chicago Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility.

0948:32 hrs:

The west arrival controller at TRACON clears the airplane for an Instrument Landing System (ILS)

CAT II

approach landing to runway 14R at ORD and to maintain airspeed of 170 knots until reaching the outer marker, located at 5.2 miles from the runway threshold. Flight 1340 is about 18 miles from the airport. (Ibid., p.2)

0948:39 hrs:

The flight crew acknowledges the approach clearance. (Ibid.)

0949:08 hrs:

The west arrival controller advises flight 1340 to contact the ORD tower and to report its position at the outer marker.

0952:15 hrs:

The flight crew contacts the ORD south local tower controller and reports its position at the outer marker. The controller clears flight 1340 to land 2 seconds later and advises the flight crew that the winds at runway 14R were calm.

0952:29 hrs:

The flight crew acknowledges the...

This was the last transmission received from the flight crew; hence the rest of the events are based on the recorded data and the post accident statements by the flight crew and flight controllers.
The Approach: 0948:32 to 0953:54 hrs:

After the approach clearance by the TRACON west controller at 0948:32, the first officer selected AUTO/G/S (glideslope

) on the autopilot and on the flight director. The airplane speed was set at 170 knots and with flaps at 15°. At the outer marker, the flaps were extended to 30°, and the airplane was slowed to 143 knots. The first officer continued to fly the approach until 0953:49, when the captain took control of the plane stating, "I got it" as the airplane descended through 140 feet above ground level. The first officer later recalled that he first felt a "pitch down" sometime between the 200-foot call and before reaching the decision height (DH). He also stated that the captain was in control of the plane at the time, the autopilot was engaged and when he looked out the window he saw the approach lights and the "nose pointed short of the runway." The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recorded the flight engineer stating, "ooh nose uh" at 0953:51. At 0953:52, the autopilot was disconnected, when the airplane was at an altitude of about 80 feet. At the same time, the first officer called out, "one hundred [feet]"; and the flight engineer stated, "nose up, nose up." The captain did not call for a "missed approach" but did pull back on the control column, which prevented a more disastrous solid "nose-first" impact of the airplane. At 0953:54, the CVR recorded the sounds of impact.

The Crash Landing & Damage to Plane

The airplane had touched down 160 feet short of the runway pavement, became airborne, touched down again on the runway, and then slid about 2,350 feet down the runway until coming to rest in an upright position in the mud about 250 feet to the right of the runway. ("Aircraft Accident Brief," 1998, p. 15)

The two main landing gears and parts of the airplane's left and right wings were found…