New York - Miami

On December 20, 1995 at 11:36 AM, New York - Miami experienced a crash involving Boeing 747-100, operated by Tower Air, with the event recorded near New York-JFK New York.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

468 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 468 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 17, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 451, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The captain initiated a takeoff on runway 04L, which was covered with patches of ice and snow. The wind was from 330 degrees at 11 knots. Before receiving an 80-knot call from the 1st officer, the airplane began to veer to the left. Subsequently, it went off the left side of the runway and collided with signs and an electric transformer. Investigation revealed evidence that the captain had overcontrolled the nosewheel steering through the tiller, then applied insufficient or untimely right rudder inputs to effect a recovery. The captain abandoned an attempt to reject the takeoff, at least temporarily, by restoring forward thrust before the airplane departed the runway. The current Boeing 747 operating procedures provide inadequate guidance to flightcrews regarding the potential for loss of directional control at low speeds on slippery runways with the use of the tiller. Current Boeing 747 flight manual guidance was inadequate about when a pilot should reject a takeoff following some indication of a lack of directional control response. Improvements in the slippery runway handling fidelity of flight simulators used for Boeing 747 pilot training were considered to be both needed and feasible.

Aircraft reference details include registration N605FF, MSN 20271, year of manufacture 1971.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 40.6429°, -73.7794°.