I usually wouldn’t post plane crash news, but before I heard about this particular crash, I read something disturbing about American Airlines….  I don’t know if it’s true.  But I just had to post it because I think you should know….

A bit about the crash itself (via):

KINGSTON, Jamaica — An American Airlines flight from Miami with more than 150 aboard overshot a runway and skidded to the edge of the Caribbean Sea, injuring more than 40 people, officials said.

Flight 331 lurched down the runway of Norman Manley International Airport in the Jamaican capital Tuesday night. Crews evacuated the passengers, who had to walk along a beach in the rain to board buses to reach the terminal.

The plane’s fuselage was cracked, both engines broke off from the impact, and the left main landing gear collapsed, airline spokesman Tim Smith said. Most of the injuries were cuts and bruises, and none were life threatening, he said.

U.S. federal investigators will analyze whether the plane should have been landing in such bad weather, Smith said, adding that other planes landed safely amid heavy rain.

Here’s the disturbing secret info (via):

Someone close to me ( I won’t name anyone ‘cause god knows who reads my babbling) is a lawyer and he specializes in the airline industry. Something like that. It’s early I don’t know the precise job description.

Anywho, what baffled me was that I overheard a conference call where he was debating with someone about how American Airlines has some discontinued Boeing planes in its fleet. How they put the crappiest planes on certain destinations. Like for example the Caribbean and certain Latin American countries. They even look at the demographic of the passengers, or so the other person on the line suggested. I was shocked.

I wonder how that goes, if they have a chart of their planes and a map with their destinations and decide that  those places where old folk and non-interesting people go might as well get the crappy minimally serviced planes.

I might believe it true based on own experience as far too often the AA flight from Miami to Aruba has been delayed due to technical issues. During my last one we had a 2 hour delay and they took off with a plane that had issues as in the AC system kaput and the PA system not functioning. Of course I had to take a Xanax on that one.

How different from my trip from Amsterdam to London during the summer. Also technical difficulties but they would not take off until it was resolved and when they saw the delay passed an hour and a half they simply transferred us to a new plane.

The one pictured is from yesterday in Jamaica.