New York City marks 20th anniversary of Flight 587 crash that hit Dominican community hard

11/12



NEW YORK — New York City on Friday marked 20 years since the tragic crash of American Airlines Flight 587, in which 265 people — most of them of Dominican descent — died.

Firefighters, police, FBI and other rescue workers gather at the crash site of American Airlines Flight 587 on Nov. 12, 2001, in a residential neighborhood in Rockaway Beach, Queens.© Jean-Christian Bourcart/Getty Images North America/TNS Firefighters, police, FBI and other rescue workers gather at the crash site of American Airlines Flight 587 on Nov. 12, 2001, in a residential neighborhood in Rockaway Beach, Queens.
A small crowd braved heavy rain to visit a memorial on Beach 116th Street in Belle Harbor, Queens, the neighborhood where the Dominican Republic-bound flight crashed two decades ago.


“It’s hard to believe 20 years have passed,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said following a moment of silence at 9:17 a.m. “We all can feel, right here, what it felt like those days just after 9/11 ... Then another tragedy was felt from the Dominican Republic all the way to right here in Belle Harbor.”

Everyone on the flight — in which about 90% of the passengers came from Dominican descent — died in the crash. Five people were killed on the ground.

“That pain does not go away,” de Blasio said, “but we still, even amidst the pain, appreciate all the people who came in that moment to try to help — the first responders, the people from the neighborhood who tried to help from that moment on.”

Coming just weeks after 9/11, New Yorkers first feared terrorism had caused the Airbus jetliner to crash just minutes after takeoff from JFK Airport. But investigators found a faulty rudder system and insufficient pilot training were to blame.

Jonathan Bourdier mourned his cousin Miguelina Fabre Delgado, a flight attendant who was 26 when she died in the crash.

“We thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new. We thought about you yesterday, and the days before that, too,” he wrote on social media.

U.S. Rep. Adrian Espaillat, D-N.Y., praised the victims’ relatives for their resilience in the face of tragedy.

“The crash is still a visceral wound and closure remains elusive. No matter how many anniversaries pass us by, we must never forget the magnitude of this loss,” said the congressman, who represents the Washington Heights neighborhood where many of the victims had lived or been visiting.

Espaillat and Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who represents the neighborhood where the plane crashed, introduced a congressional resolution commemorating the crash and honoring the victims.

Upper Manhattan Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez praised American Airlines for improving its pilot training program after the crash revealed gaps in their ability to cope with unusual conditions.

The tragedy was the second deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history.

Flight 587′s pilot and first officer failed to control the jet as it flew into turbulence from the wake of a larger plane that took off just before it, the National Transportation Safety Board determined.

The Airbus plane’s tail and engines snapped off, causing it to slam into the residential neighborhood just across Jamaica Bay from the airport.

Rodriguez said the crash reflects the human pain that can result from failure to maintain meticulous training standards.

“We must continue to hold all airlines to the highest of safety standards to ensure a tragedy like this never occurs again,” he said.

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