Flight 331's Folly

It seems there have been several major flight accidents over the past year or two.

The recent crash landing of AA flight 331 is just another, though perhaps one with the best possible outcome.

In case you haven't heard, the flight from DC to Miami to Jamaica suffered a rough landing amid heavy rain. The plane fractured in a couple of places and was damaged beyond repair. Fortunately, no one died -- though several of the passengers were injured.

It's hard to say without discrete details of the flight, but it sounds like the weather was poor, there were inoperative approach lights at the airport, and the plane may have landed too far down the runway.

I wonder if perhaps the pilot forced the plane down when he should have taken a go-around and given the approach another try. Perhaps he was not fully aware of the limited lighting and thought everything would be okay.

While the pilot is certainly the one who should be held responsible for the safe arrival and landing of the aircraft, it's difficult to pinpoint at this time the precise reasoning for the disaster.