American Airlines Flight 587 crashed near Beach 131st Street and Newport Avenue in the residential neighborhood of Belle Harbor in Queens, New York City, shortly after takeoff from nearby JFK Airport on November 12th, 2001.
All 260 passengers and crew were killed, along with 5 people on the ground, and the impact and ensuing fire destroyed several houses.
The NTSB concluded that the Airbus A300-600, flying to the Dominican Republic, encountered wake turbulence from a Boeing 747-400 that took off shortly before it. Flight 587’s first officer is said to have responded with aggressive use of the rudder controls which stressed the tail fin until it snapped off the plane. The plane’s engines broke off as it fell to the ground, with one landing in the parking area of a Texaco gas station on Beach 129th Street.
