05/09/2026
Do you remember the American Eagle flight 5401 accident at mother's day 2004?
Aircraft: ATR-72-212
Registration N438AT
Route Mayagüez (MAZ) - San Juan (SJU)
The airplane was preceeded by a B757, ATC warning the ATR of wake turbulence. As a result of that warning the Captain advised the FO to reduce speed earlier and more than ATC requested to not fly into the wake turbulence - resulting in an unstabilized approach however, in which the visual approach path (VASI) was undershot. The airplane touched down around 1500 feet past the threshold at a pitch angle of 9 degrees ANU and 110 knots, and bounced away, reached 4 feet AGL and touched down again, at which point the Captain took control of the airplane, increased engine thrust, the airplane now reaching 37 feet at which point the pitch decreased to a 7 degrees AND, the airplane touched down very hard, ballooned away again and came down a fourth time now resulting in a crash. The airplane came to a rest to the left of the runway in a grass area. The captain was seriously injured, 2 FA, the FO and 16 passengers received minor injuries, 6 remained uninjured, the airplane was substantially damaged.
