American Airlines Flight 965 - Aftermath

Aftermath

Scavengers took engine thrust reversers, cockpit avionics, and other components from the crashed 757. The scavengers used Colombian military and private helicopters to go to and from the crash site. Many of the stolen unapproved aircraft parts re-appeared on the black market in Greater Miami parts brokers. In a response, the airline published a 14 page list stating all of the parts missing from the crashed aircraft. The list included the serial numbers of all of the parts.

In 1997 U.S. District Judge Stanley Marcus ruled that the pilots had committed "willful misconduct"; the ruling applied to American Airlines, which represented the deceased pilots. The judge's ruling was subsequently reversed in June 1999 by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which also overturned the jury verdict and declared that the judge in the case was wrong in issuing a finding of fault with the pilots, a role which should have been reserved for the jury only.

American Airlines settled numerous lawsuits brought against it by the families of the victims of the accident. American Airlines filed a "third-party complaint" lawsuit for contribution against Jeppesen and Honeywell, who made the navigation computer database and failed to include the coordinates of Rozo under the identifier "R"; the case went to trial in United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami. At the trial, American admitted that it bore some legal responsibility for the accident. Honeywell and Jeppesen each contended that they had no legal responsibility for the accident. In June 2000, the jury found that Jeppesen was 30 percent at fault for the crash, Honeywell was 10 percent at fault, and American Airlines was 60 percent at fault.

The flight route designation of the Miami to Cali route is now Flight 921 as a Boeing 737-800. Rozo NDB "R" has been replaced by Palma NDB "PL".

An improved ground proximity warning system, called enhanced ground proximity warning system, was introduced in 1996, which could have prevented the accident.

Since 2002, all planes with more than six passengers are required to have an advanced terrain awareness warning system. No aircraft fitted with a TAWS/EGPWS suffered a controlled flight into terrain accident until July 28, 2010 when Airblue Flight 202 crashed into the Margalla Hills, Pakistan.