An American Airlines plane that careened off a slick Jamaican runway last year has prompted crash investigators to reassess how well some jetliner braking systems perform on various runway surfaces in rainy conditions, people familiar with the details say.
American Flight 331 was en route from Miami to Kingston in stormy weather when it landed nearly halfway down the runway on Dec. 22. The pilots used maximum braking power but the Boeing 737 still slid off the end of the strip, ending up with a collapsed landing gear and the fuselage cracked in two places.
The crash, according to these people, has led the National Transportation Safety Board investigators to challenge longstanding airline practices and technical assumptions regarding braking capabilities on wet runways. By those criteria, the advanced Boeing 737-800 should have been able to stop safely on the strip.
Safety board investigators are inclined toward drafting recommendations to reassess, and in some cases tighten, current safety margins for landing on wet runways, according to people familiar with the continuing investigation. Any final action will require approval by the board's members, and the preliminary conclusions could change
Jetliner Brake Systems Probed - WSJ.com