WASHINGTON (Dec. 19, 2019) — The National Transportation Safety Board opened the public docket Thursday as part of its ongoing investigation of the Feb. 23, 2019, Atlas Air flight 3591 crash into Trinity Bay, Texas.
The accident occurred when a Boeing 767-300 Atlas Air cargo jet entered a rapid descent from 6,200 feet and impacted a marshy bay area about 40 miles from Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The two pilots and one non-revenue jumpseat pilot were fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed. The airplane was carrying cargo from Miami to Houston for Amazon.com Inc., and the US Postal Service.
(Graphic depiction of the descent of Atlas Air flight 3591 and the communication between air traffic control and the aircraft pilots on Feb. 23, 2019. NTSB Graphic)Graphic depiction of the descent of Atlas Air flight 3591 and the communication between air traffic control and the aircraft pilots on Feb. 23, 2019. NTSB Graphic)
The docket includes more than 3,000 pages of factual reports that cover various aspects of the investigation, including operations, survival factors, human performance, air traffic control, aircraft performance, and includes the cockpit voice recorder transcript, sound spectrum study, and the flight data recorder information. The docket also includes interview transcripts, photographs, and other investigative materials.
The docket contains only factual information collected by NTSB investigators; it does not provide the final report, analysis, findings, recommendations, or probable cause determinations. No conclusions about how or why the crash occurred should be drawn from the information within the docket. Analysis, findings, recommendations, and probable cause determinations related to the crash will be issued by the NTSB in a final report at a later date.
The public docket for this investigation is available online at: https://go.usa.gov/xp7gH
Additional material may be added to the docket as it becomes available.
To report an incident/accident or if you are a public safety agency, please call 1-844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290 to speak to a Watch Officer at the NTSB Response Operations Center (ROC) in Washington, DC (24/7).
