Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
O'hare International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chicago, Illinois 60666
Thursday, July 14, 1988 5:53 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
AN AMERICAN AIRLINES MD80, OPERATING AS FLIGHT 160, A 'RED-EYE' FLIGHT FROM ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA TO CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, LANDED ON A CLOSED RUNWAY UPON ARRIVAL AT O'HARE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. THE FLIGHT HAD BEEN CLEARED FOR THE ILS APPROACH TO RUNWAY 14R, BUT TOUCHED DOWN ON THE CLOSED PARALLEL RUNWAY 14L. THE FIRST OFFICER WAS FLYING THE AIRCRAFT, WITH THE CAPTAIN WORKING THE RADIOS. VISUAL METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS PREVAILED WITH A REPORTED VISIBILITY OF 7 MILES AND CALM WINDS, HOWEVER BOTH REPORTED THAT VISIBILITY SOUTH-EASTBOUND INTO THE RISING SUN WAS CONSIDERABLY REDUCED IN HAZE AND SUNGLARE. ATC COMMUNICATIONS WERE ROUTINE. FLIGHT CREW READBACKS WERE CORRECT, AND THE APPROACH PLATE FOR ILS 14R WAS SELECTED AND AN APPROPRIATE BRIEFING WAS CONDUCTED. THE PILOTS REPORTED THAT THEY FIRST REALIZED THEY HAD LANDED ON THE WRONG RUNWAY WHEN THEY SAW THE HANGARS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE RUNWAY. RUNWAY 14L WAS CLOSED AND THE LOCALIZER OFF DUE TO ONGOING CONSTRUCTION WORK.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 7/14/1988 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 553 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | CHICAGO |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 60666 |
| Event Date Year | 1988 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | O'HARE INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ORD |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 667 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 552 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ORD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 667 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dawn |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | 126 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5075 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 14 1988 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 38389 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 11:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N253A |
| NTSB Number | CHI88IA165 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | MCDONNELL DOUGLAS |
| Aircraft Model | MD80 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MD80 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 150000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 170 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AMERICAN AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 616166, DFW AIRPORT |
| Aircraft Owner City | DALLAS |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75261 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | AMERICAN AIRLINES |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P. O. BOX 616166, DFW AIRPORT |
| Operator City | DALLAS |
| 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 | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ONT |
| Departure City | ONTARIO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 227 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | ORD |
| Destination City | CHICAGO |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 14L |
| Runway Length | 10003 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |