The real start of American Eagle . . .
On Tuesday April 27, 1976, American Airlines Flight 625 was to be a routine run down to the Caribbean. A mostly overwater flight between two airports named after U.S. presidents: New York’s John F. Kennedy to St. Thomas’s Harry S. Truman. And apart from a couple of popped ears during the descent, the flight proceeded as planned – until the Boeing 727 was just a few feet above the tarmac.
The exact facts are in dispute, but it seems experienced captain Arthur Bujnowski landed long after floating a little above the runway. “Let’s go around” he declared, opening the throttles. But seven seconds later he decided to abort the go-around, pulling off the power, and applying the brakes. It was too late.
The jet sped off the end of the runway, crossed a road, smashed into a Shell service station, and came to a rest in three sections. A fire erupted, completely distroying the airframe. Although a majority of those onboard escaped, 35 passengers and 2 flight attendants died in what was left of N1963.
When the American Airlines pilot union notified management it would soon refuse to operate jets into St. Thomas, the APA got their wish. American established a wholly-owned subsidiary – American Inter-Island – just to ferry AA passengers between St. Croix and St. Thomas. American made an extensive search for suitable aircraft, ending in purchase of four Convair 440’s from Delta Air Transport of Belgium. A fifth 440 was added later to the fleet.
This arrangement was agreed to by the APA until runway improvements were finished at St. Thomas. A tiny piston-powered island-hopping pilot group would not easily fit into the large APA, and an temporary exception was deemed reasonable in this case from the normal union requirement that all flying controlled by American Airlines be flown by American Airlines pilots. Former APA president Bob Malone remembers this arrangement, “as the very start of scope.”
When the 727's returned to St. Thomas, American InterIsland was sold. But it clearly was the prototype of American Eagle opartations at AMR.
Later, after deregulation, RC bought most of the Eagle commuter carriers as he was worried that Lorenzo would buy them and thus remove his feed.
