Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Rio Grande Valley Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Harlingen, Texas 78851
Saturday, February 8, 1986 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
WHILE EN ROUTE, THE COMPANY DISPATCHER NOTIFIED AMERICAN FLT 844 (VIA ACARS) THAT HARLINGEN (HRL) HAD UNFORECAST FOG & WAS 300' OBSCD WITH 1/2 MI VIS. AT 2335, AS THE FLT BGN A DSCNT FM FL 310, THE SAME CEILING & VIS WERE RPRTD. HOWEVER, AS THE FLT WAS CLRD FOR AN ILS RWY 17R APCH, HOUSTON ARTCC ADZD THE WX WAS (IN PART) 200' OBSCD, 3/8 MI VIS WITH FOG. WXMINS FOR THE APCH WERE 200' CEILING & 1/2 MI VIS. TWO APCHS WERE MADE USING THE AUTOPLT, BUT BOTH WERE TERMINATED WITH MISSED APCHS DUE TO WX. THE CREW STARTED TO DIVERT, BUT RECD A WX UPDATE (VIA ACARS) THAT THE WX WAS IMPROVING, SO A 3RDILS WAS ATMTD. AFTER ACTIVATING RWY LGTS, THE CAPT HAND FLEW THE APCH. AS HE TRANSITIONED TO A VISUAL APCH, THE DSCNT RATE INCREASED & THE ACFT TOUCHED DWN SHORT OF THE RWY, DMGG THE LNDG GEAR & APCH LGTS. THE CREW MADE A GO-ARND, THEN DIVERTED WITH NO FURTHER INCIDENT. A COMPANY WX OBSERVER AT HRL NOTED THE 0010 WX WAS 200' OBSCD & 1/2 MI VIS & THE 0018WX WAS 100' OBSCD & 1/4 MI VIS, BUT THE CREW DID NOT CONTACT THE OBSERVER, AS REQD, BFR MAKING THE APCHS.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 2/8/1986 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 20 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | HARLINGEN |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78851 |
| Event Date Year | 1986 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | RIO GRANDE VALLEY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HRL |
| 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 | 36 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2318 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 170 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HRL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 36 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Obscured |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 134 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5032 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 8 1986 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 0 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 31970 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 3:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N871AA |
| NTSB Number | DCA86IA017 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING |
| Aircraft Model | 727-223 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 727-223 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21383 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 174000 |
| 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 | 195 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 23132 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | DALLAS FT. WORTH INT'L ARPT |
| Aircraft Owner City | DALLAS |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75261 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | 07 |
| 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 | DFW |
| Departure City | DALLAS FT WORTH |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| 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 | 17R |
| Runway Length | 8300 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |