The best picture of the American Airline crash

[malaise]

That's the road to Port Royal if you're going left and the road to the round about - airport or Kingston if you're going right.
The retainer wall at the end of the runway is between 8 -10ft high from the road. So the runway is behind the metal fence on top of the wall and the sea is just in front of those yellow concrete boulders. The reason for those is to prevent the lovers' lane fans from driving too close to the sea. No doubt the bad weather explains why none of them were there Tuesday night.

We went to see the aircraft this morning. Those were some very lucky people.

[jobycom]

1. Thanks, good pic. That retaining wall explains more why it broke up, it seems.

A lot of very lucky people, including the lovers who weren't parked there.

[Warpy]

2. Thanks for the picture, what a mess!

I'm sure those folks don't feel very lucky. Most of them will have to board another airplane in a week or two and I know how it feels to do that after surviving a minor crash. It happened to me when I was seven.

They need to tell themselves there's only one plane crash allowed per customer. It's how I manage.

[malaise]

3. Well you know more than me for sure

I never even had a near miss. The thing is that they could have been much worse - if they had hit the road, the aircraft would probably have exploded; if they hit the Caribbean sea, those waters have a serious undercurrent.

GEM$NBC has pretty good coverage Kerry Sanders is here talking to passengers and they clearly took a helicopter overhead.

sp.

[SoCalDem]

6. I've had two "near-misses" with planes.. in the first, we had the rafts OUT and ready to go

and everyone had their musty mildew-y Mae Wests on.. MATS was not known for their comfort...just chairs set up in cargo slots (C-47)..somehow we managed to make it to Texas without ditching.. the windows on the right side of the plane were black from engine-oil, and it sounded & felt like being inside a cement mixer.. I was 11 ..

[shireen]

7. glad you were ok ...

and i love that photo in your signature!

Edit to ask, triceratops, right?

[SoCalDem]

8. Thanks.. I remember being quite scared.. & not eager to water-land.. at night in the Caribbean

texas looked pretty good to us.. even if our family was waiting for us in South Carolina:)

[thelordofhell]

15. So you nearly missed the water?

[SoCalDem]

16. Yep.. we were flying from Panama to S. Carolina, & had engine trouble

and a big storm.. It was touch & go ..

[thelordofhell]

19. So you didn't nearly miss the water

You nearly hit the water.

[SoCalDem]

20. Yes.. they were telling us how to get into the raft when it was in the water

of course, in reality, the impact would probably have killed us anyway ..

[malaise]

17. Wow!

That must have been frightening.

[MadMaddie]

5. Many will probably do like I do...I go to my Dr. please give

me some medication to calm my nerves and then I chill for the whole flight. (anxiety)...

Seriously though I am glad all of them survived, this could have been a tradgedy if the plane would have gone any further than it did.

[Scurrilous]

4. That was close. n/t

[malaise]

9. Lots more photos here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonitajamaica/sets/72157623057004690/

[RC]

10. Can you imagine what was going through the minds of those passengers

where the plane was coming apart right in from of them?
They will never think of leg room the same again.

[malaise]

12. Lots of them have been on local radio and TV

Some media houses took some of them to the crash site for them to discuss the experience in daylight.

Amazing stuff. Lots of it is on UTube - I'll try to find some.

[Ignis]

11. Wow, talk about skin-of-their-teeth close!

:scared:

[malaise]

13. Check out the photos at #9

to see skin-of-their-teeth

[Ignis]

14. Wow...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonitajamaica/4209124593/in/set-72157623057004690/

[uppityperson]

18. Thanks for the pictures. I like to sit closely behind wings

looking at this, I think I will continue to do so. glad it wasn't worse.