An Odd Finding

So I just happened to do a Google search for “retired flight numbers” and one of the first things that came up was American Airlines Flight 1, which operates daily between JFK and LAX.  Historically, airlines will retire flight numbers after a crash.  But in this case, even though there was a crash of an American Airlines flight 1, that number hasn’t been retired.  It’s still in use today.

But what’s even more odd is the coincidence between the crash of American Airlines Flight 1 from March 1st, 1962, and the crash of American Airlines flight 587, which also departed from JFK, but was bound for the Dominican Republic.  Both flights left JFK, and both flights crashed in Queens, New York.  But even further, both flights crashed because of rudder problems.

Flight 1’s crash was because of:  “an uncommanded rudder control system input

Flight 587’s crash was because of: “instead attributed the disaster to the first officer’s overuse of rudder controls in response to wake turbulence

Both flights final resting place are just over 2 kilometers from each other (a little over 1 mile).

Not sure why I find this interesting, but I do!

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