Alitalia Airlines Flight 618, a Douglas DC-8-62, I-DIWZ, made a hard landing on Runway 04 Right (Runway 4R) at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York, at approximately 1321 e.d.t., September 15, 1970. The accident occurred following a localizer approach to Runway 4R. The glide slope portion of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) was inoperative. There were no fatalities. The 10 crewmembers and 146 passengers evacuated the aircraft after it came to a stop in a sandy area to the west of Runway 4R. Sixty-nine occupants, 11 of whom were hospitalized, sustained injuries. The aircraft departed the left side of the runway and as it continued in a divergent path from the runway it ground-looped to the left before coming to a stop. The fuselage split open in an area just aft of the wing. Three of the engines separated from the aircraft during the landing rollout. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the use of reverse thrust in flight, contrary to published procedures, with a resultant uncorrectable high sink rate. The captain's decision to use reverse thrust and not to execute a missed approach was a reaction under stress occasioned, at least in part, by Air Traffic Control (ATC) instructions which led to positioning the aircraft too high and too close to the runway. ATC vectored the aircraft to the final approach path under IFR conditions and in the absence of an operating ILS glide slope. (Author)
Aircraft Accident Report. Alitalia Airlines, McDonnell-Douglas DC-8-62, I-DIWZ (Italian Registry), John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York, September 15, 1970
1971
26 pages
Report
No indication
English