Ok so in another news item that I had to refrain myself from posting due to it being... well bad news. Essentially what had happened was an American Airlines plane (Flight 331) had ran off the run way at the Norman Manley International Airport here in JA. The good news is that nobody was seriously injured, further good news, the plane didnt end up in the sea (it got really close though), and the bad news is... everybody is blaming the Jamaican authorities. Now I always take the Jamaicans side of the story (unless the other side is more plausible) and my bias will yet again show here when I state that it is not the fault of the Jamaican authorities.

First lets look at what we do know, the flight came from Miami. The crash happened at night (around 10:30 or thereabout). Planes had been landing at the airport without issue all night. There was torrential rainfall that night. There were a few lights on the runway which were not working (but was reported to all necessary authorities) but not enough to prevent planes from landing safely. Ok we've gotten that out of the way.

Now the first claim which came out basically the day after the crash was that the lights on the runway were not working. Does anybody actually believe this? Anybody? Wouldn't the lights on the runway not working be reasonable grounds for the airport to close... Just a thought. The fact is there were non working flights on the runway but they were not so many non working lights to prevent planes from making proper landings. As a matter of fact, planes were landing at the airport quite fine before the AA flight landed, so what are you telling me that the airport staff decided to be evil and turn of the lights just in time for the AA flight? Therefore what reason do we have to believe that there is any likelyhood that this claim may be truthful. Heck it was even reported beforehand that the lights werent working.

So now whats the alternative if this wasn't the authorities fault? It couldn't have been an error within the airplane itself, the plane was passed fit and the pilot reported no issues at all the entire flight... so it must've been pilot error! An article released on monday stated that:

Responding to reports that the 737-800 aircraft was attempting to land in a tailwind of 14 knots, Slack pointed to a 2004 study which showed that the maximum tailwinds for take-offs and landings by this model plane was 10 knots in clear weather conditions. This number, he noted, was lower in bad weather.

Hm... There is also no question as to the availability of this data (ie the 14 knots tailwind data), as the pilot MUST have this data from he took off in Miami, and he should've had it before landing as well. It's not like it was some government secret. The other thing is, reports from passengers on the plane have stated that:

"The approach seemed to have been very fast, and second, when he (the pilot) touched down, it was like he dropped out of the sky," he said.

There have even been unofficial reports that the pilot tried to land in the middle of the runway among other things. Pretty much everything points to the pilot just being a lazy pilot who had the alternative to land in Montego Bay but decided against it. There is simply no other explanation that can hold as much weight as this one, I beg for an alternative. I have spoken to numerous of my pilot friends and they have all more or less confirmed that the reasoning given by AA and the pilot of the plane is rubbish and I dont see the need to question the professionals.

Not sure I want to fly on AA ever.