Boeing 767-200 incident near Jamaica, New York, November 21, 1999
On November 21, 1999 at about 2:07 am local time, a Boeing 767-200, registered N610UA, was involved in an incident near Jamaica, New York (John F Kennedy Intl airport). It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under scheduled airline rules (Part 121). No one was hurt; 179 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
Total failure of the stabilizer control system for undetermined reasons.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- November 21, 1999 · about 2:07 am local time
- Place
- Jamaica, New York · John F Kennedy Intl · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 179 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Boeing 767-200 · all 767-200s on the register
- Registration
- N610UA · no longer on the register · serial 21871
- Damage
- Not recorded
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · scheduled airline rules (Part 121)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
While on final, the first officer had trouble trimming the airplane. The captain attempted to trim the airplane via his yoke switch and the manual trim handle, with no success. A go-around was executed. The crew ran the checklist, but control of the stabilizer trim was not regained. The crew pulled circuit breakers H11 and H20, and then reset them. The stabilizer trim was still inoperative. The crew reset the trim cutout switches twice, and normal operation of the stabilizer trim was reestablished. The left stabilizer position transmitter, and the right stabilizer position transmitter were out of calibration. Also, the left stabilizer trim control module (STCM) was found to have a higher than normal leakage, and the connector for the corresponding shut-off valve was shorting across several of its pins due to skydrol incursion. No faults were identified for the right system except for the right-stabilizer-position transmitter. According to the operator, the system should have operated at half rate with the above discrepancy, but did not. There have been no reports of difficulties with the airplane's stabilizer trim system since the event.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: airline transport pilot, flight engineer
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 4,870 hours in all; 3,299 in this make and model
- Medical certificate: Class 1 (valid medical--no waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
The aircraft
- Last inspection: inspection type not recorded
- Maximum gross weight: 320,000 lb
- Seats: 179
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine: P&W JT9D-7R4D (turbofan); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: SFO San Francisco CA at 8:39 pm
- Destination: JFK Jamaica NY
- Flight plan: IFR
- Runway 31L, 14,572 ft by 150 ft
- A second pilot was aboard
Weather at the time
- Light: night, dark
- Wind: from 220° at 3 knots
- Visibility: 7 statute miles
- Sky: broken clouds at 5,500 ft; scat at 2,000 ft
- Temperature: 55°F (13°C), dew point 55°F (13°C)
- Altimeter: 30.00 inHg
- Observation at 1:51 am from JFK
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 11 | |||
| Passengers | 168 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.