Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
La Paz
Sunday, September 20, 1998 5:55 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On September 21, 1998, about 0555 eastern daylight time, a Boeing 757-223, N650AA, registered to Meridian Trust Company, and operated by American Airlines, Inc., as flight 923, a Title 14 CFR Part 121 scheduled international passenger flight, from Miami, Florida, to La Paz, Bolivia, was damaged when the tail section struck the runway during landing at La Paz. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The aircraft received substantial damage. The airline transport-rated captain, first officer, international first officer, 6 flight attendants, and 153 passengers were not injured. The flight originated from Miami, Florida, on September 20, 1998, about 2353 eastern daylight time.
The captain reported to the operator that he was flying the aircraft at the time of the accident. During landing flare he allowed the nose of the aircraft to rise too much in an attempt to prevent the nose landing gear from slamming down. After arriving at the gate he was informed by a flight attendant that they heard a scrapping nose in the tail area of the aircraft during landing. He inspected the aircraft and found a 6 to 8 foot scrape mark on the tail section of the aircraft.
Examination of the aircraft by company maintenance personnel showed the aft pressure bulkhead had a 1-inch depth buckle and that there was a small crack in a frame aft of the aft pressure bulkhead. There was abrasion damage from station 1681.8 to 1720. The lower cap of the aft pressure bulkhead was exposed at station 1720.
Readout of the digital flight data recorder was performed at the NTSB Flight Recorder Laboratory, Washington, D.C., at the request of the Director General Civil Aviation, Bolivia. The pitch attitude of the aircraft during landing flare and touchdown was about 12.5 degrees aircraft nose up.
The investigation is under the jurisdiction of the Government of Bolivia. Any further information pertaining to this accident may be obtained from:
Director General De Aeronautica Civil Government of Bolivia La Paz, Bolivia Telephone: 591-2-391370 Facsimile: 591-2-371347
This report is for information purposes only and contains only information obtained for or released by the Government of Bolivia.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/20/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 555 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | LA PAZ |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00000 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Unknown |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 600 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SLL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Not Reported |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1300 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 1 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 1 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 90 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 162 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 0 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 21 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1300 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:46AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N650AA |
| NTSB Number | MIA98WA251 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Unknown |
| Aircraft Explosion | Unknown |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 757-223 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 757-223 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Unknown |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | |
| Aircraft Owner State | |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 619616 |
| Operator City | DFW AIRPORT |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 75261 |
| Operator Code | AALA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Unknown |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KMIA |
| Departure City | MIAMI |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | SLLP |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 3 2001 9:58AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |