American Notes NEW YORK CITY

As USAir's Boeing 737-400 Flight 5050, bound for Charlotte, N.C., accelerated for takeoff on a rain-drenched runway at LaGuardia Airport one night last week, some of the 63 on board felt a strange reversal of the jet engines. There was a skid and an impact that, though it left two dead and 45 injured, did not feel especially severe. A greater shock awaited at the bottom of the escape slide. Said social worker Larry Martin of Brooklyn: "When we got off, we were in the water." Passengers who could not swim held on to driftwood or each other, while many clambered on to the aircraft's broken fuselage until rescue boats arrived.

Pilot Michael Martin and co-pilot Constantine Kleissaf disappeared for more than a day after talking to lawyers, which made drug and alcohol tests impossible. Martin had flown 737s for only two months. Kleissaf had been at the controls, even though it was his first time in the cockpit of a Boeing 737 and federal regulations require the pilot to take off and fly in bad weather. Next day, after questioning the two, the National Transportation Safety Board reported that Kleissaf had accidentally pushed a button that decelerated the plane. Martin tried to correct the situation manually, then aborted the takeoff when the plane began to vibrate. The Federal Aviation Administration suspended the licenses of both men.