At an altitude of 1,000 ft (305 m) and a distance of about 2 miles (1.7 nmi; 3.2 km), visual contact was made with the approach lights of runway 11.

The captain thereby ordered a go-around and retracted the ground spoilers before setting the flaps to 25°, however the thrust reverser mechanism failed to fully disengage, meaning that the plane couldn't obtain full takeoff speed.

Upon realising that the aircraft wasn't going to come to a halt before the end of the runway was reached, the captain turned the plane to the right and raised the nose.

Rescue personnel quickly arrived on the scene and almost all passengers and crew managed to evacuate the aircraft before it caught on fire.

An investigation of the accident by the National Transportation Safety Board which lasted 261 days and was published on December 22, 1976, determined that captain Burke's faulty judgement to initiate a go-around after having committed to a full stop landing following an excessively long and fast approach and touchdown, was the main cause of the accident.

The NTSB report also stated that the captain's unprofessional decision to abandon the precision approach contributed to the accident.