TRINIDAD GUARDIAN –  The Caribbean Airlines aircraft that overshot the runway at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on Saturday morning, terrifying the 163 passengers and crew and leading to the hospitalization of five persons is not the only recent aviation “miracle” to occur in the region. About 18 months ago, American Airlines flight 331 from Miami to Kingston with more than 150 passengers and crew aboard overshot a runway in Jamaica. The incident occurred on December 22, 2009 and led to some 44 people being taken to hospitals in Kingston but only two were admitted to the hospital, and none suffered life-threatening injuries.
The main similarity between the two incidents was that like the Caribbean Airlines aircraft, there were no fatalities in the Kingston incident. Another similarity is, the American Airlines aircraft was a 737-800. And both aircraft were involved in night landings in which the aircraft ran off the runways and broke through the perimeter fencing.
And, just as in Saturday’s incident, the fuselage of the American Airlines jet was also cracked—in that case in three, whereas in Saturday’s incident the fuselage broke in two.
If a report in the Jamaica Gleaner of July 18 is any indication, the probe of the Caribbean Airlines incident could go on for months.
The newspaper quoted the head of Jamaica’s Civil Aviation Authority Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Derby, as saying that the agency had made a conclusion about the cause of the crash, but could not yet make the findings public.
The newspaper report indicated that the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority has now completed its final draft of the report into the American Airlines plane crash.
During heavy rains on the night of December 22, 2009, the plane crashed and broke into three pieces after overshooting the runway at the Norman Manley International Airport.