American Airlines jet landed too far down runway, Jamaican official says

An American Airlines jet that crashed in Jamaica last month touched down in the middle of the runway and was still traveling 72 mph just before it split open near a series of thick concrete posts, a top Jamaican aviation safety official said Tuesday.

Jamaican investigators are scheduled to give their first public update today on the crash of American Airlines Flight 331, which careened off the runway at Kingston-Norman Manley International Airport on Dec. 22.

Lt. Col. Oscar Derby, director general of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority, said investigators have gathered facts but are still trying to answer why pilots landed in nearly the middle of the 8,910-foot runway – limiting their distance for stopping the aircraft in heavy rain and gusting winds.