Video appeared to show that the thrust reversers of American Airlines Flight 2253 were slow to deploy before the 757-200 slid off the runway at Jackson Hole Wyoming last December — now we know the crew thought so, too. The NTSB Friday released a transcript of the flight’s cockpit voice recorder. The airliner had touched down safely under a 1,000-foot overcast with a broken layer at 400 and 3/4 mile visibility in light snow. At the moment the wheels touched, the flight’s captain said “very good.” Twenty-seven seconds later, the first officer (who had flown the landing) expressed his opinion of how events had developed since then by stating, “We’re screwed.” He then told the tower why: “And American ah twenty two fifty three is goin’ off the end of the runway.”
None of the 185 aboard were injured. The jet came to rest approximately 350 feet past the runway overrun area in snow. Preliminary reports indicate that the airplane was undamaged, according to the NTSB. The transcript shows that almost immediately after touching down, the pilots believed they had a problem. The copilot specifically commented that he had “no reverse.” The conversation that followed between copilot and captain as the jet rumbled down the runway focused on efforts to apply brakes and reversers. Eventually, 15 seconds into the landing roll the captain says “alright I got max brake.” It apparently was too little, too late. The crew from a Challenger 30 that landed before the Boeing reported good braking on the first 2/3 of the runway and poor braking on the last third. After the Boeing came to rest, the crew tended to communications with the tower and emergency personnel and shared this exchange: The captains said, “We got no braking action.” The copilot responded, “We didn’t get thrust reversers out.” The transcript suggests that wasn’t for lack of trying, and the video shows that eventually — and prior to the jet leaving the runway — the reversers did deploy. But the NTSB has yet to release a final report.
