Miami Air Flight 293 was a supplemental non-scheduled passenger flight from Leeward Point Field, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Naval Air StationJacksonville, Florida. It served to transport military personnel and related civilians. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, skidded off the runway at Jacksonville into the St. Johns River while attempting to land in a thunderstorm. Emergency services, including more than 50 firefighters, rescued all 136 passengers and seven crew. The plane was never submerged; however, many passengers in the front and mid section of the plane were soaked when brackish water entered through breaches in the fuselage. There was also several inches of water in the rows in the back of the plane. Twenty-one people were injured and transported to the hospital, but there were no critical injuries. At least three pets transported in the hold of the aircraft are presumed to have died. Authorities were concerned about fuel spreading in the river and worked to contain it.
Aircraft
The accident aircraft was a Boeing 737-81Q, registration N732MA, MSN 30618, Line Number 830. The aircraft had first flown on April 12, 2001. It had entered service with Miami Air on April 26, 2001. At the time of the accident, it had flown for 38,928 hours 57 minutes in 15,610 flights.
Investigation
The accident is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing, and the United States Navy. Initial reports of the investigation focused on a possible failure of the thrust reverser and the pilot's request to change runways. The right hand thrust reverser was inoperative at the time of takeoff, as allowed per the master minimum equipment list, which made the thrust reversers unavailable after the aircraft landed. During the landing approach, the pilot checked in with the Jacksonville tower at 9:22:19 PM; the approach controller advised the pilot to land on Runway 28. The recorded weather conditions at 9:22 PM included heavy rain and thunderstorms with wind from 350° at. Thunderstorms had begun at 9:04 PM. Although the aircraft was advised to land on Runway 28, which is long, the pilot requested if the opposite direction was available at 9:23:25 PM; the tower advised the pilot that rain was building approximately from the approach to Runway 10. In addition, using Runway 10 would reduce the available landing distance to due to the displaced threshold resulting from the presence of arresting gear at the west end of the runway. At 9:24:55 PM, the pilot radioed the tower again to get advice on whether to use Runway 28 or 10; the tower controller said both were "pretty rough" and "pretty socked in", but the winds continued to favor the use of 28. The tower directed the pilot to turn right to a heading of 010° and descend and maintain an altitude of at 9:26:11 PM; tower control then directed the pilot to a heading of 040° at 9:27:56 PM. At 9:30:03 PM, the controller advised the pilot the storm was moving east, favoring the approach to Runway 10, and the pilot agreed to redirect to 10. After the pilot was handed off to the radar controller, radar control cleared the aircraft for landing at 9:39:49 PM. Post-accident investigation showed the aircraft touched down approximately beyond the displaced threshold and veered right, reaching approximately from the Runway 10 centerline at a point from the displaced threshold. At that point, the aircraft had departed from the runway surface, later striking the seawall/embankment. A week after the accident, the aircraft was lifted onto a barge and floated up the St. Johns River and moved to shore at Reynolds Industrial Park in Green Cove Springs. After an investigation by the NTSB, the plane will be scrapped. The NTSB issued an update to their investigation on May 23, 2019.
