Flagship Airlines Flight 3379

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flagship Airlines Flight 3379
N933AE B.Ae Jetstream 32 American Eagle EYW 03JUN94 (6857782640) .jpg

A Flagship Airlines Jetstream 32 operated for American Eagle , similar to the plane involved in the accident
Accident summary
Accident type Loss of control
place near Morrisville , North Carolina , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
date December 13, 1994
Fatalities 15th
Survivors 5
Injured 0
Aircraft
Aircraft type United KingdomUnited Kingdom Jetstream 32
operator United StatesUnited States Flagship Airlines on behalf of American Eagle
United StatesUnited States
Mark United StatesUnited States N918AE
Departure airport Piedmont Triad International Airport , North Carolina , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Destination airport Raleigh-Durham International Airport , North Carolina , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Passengers 18th
crew 2
Lists of aviation accidents

On the Flagship Airlines Flight 3379 a serious flight accident occurred on 13 December 1994th That day, a Jetstream 32 , which was operated by Flagship Airlines on behalf of American Eagle , had an accident at the end of its flight route within the US state of North Carolina , which led from Piedmont Triad International Airport to Raleigh-Durham Airport . In the accident, 15 occupants, including the two pilots, were killed and there were five survivors.

machine

The machine was a Jetstream 32 , which had been built in 1990 at the British Aerospace plant in the United Kingdom and had the serial number 918 . The machine completed its first flight on December 4, 1985, on January 25, 1991 it was delivered to the Nashville Eagle , which flew regional flights for the American Eagle . The registration with the aircraft registration N918AE took place on April 9, 1991. On June 1, 1991, the Nashville Eagle was part of the Flagship Airlines, whose fleet the machine has belonged to since then. The twin-engine short-range aircraft was equipped with two turboprop engines of the type Garrett TPE331-12UAR-70 equipped. By the time of the accident, the machine had completed a total of 6,577 operating hours.

Passengers and crew

The flight from Greensboro to Raleigh had taken 18 passengers. There was a two-person crew on board the machine, consisting of a flight captain and a first officer. No flight attendants were provided on the regional flight.

The 29-year-old flight captain Michael Hillis began his pilot career in 1985. On January 8, 1990, he was hired by Comair , where he was the first officer to fly in a Saab 340 aircraft . On January 7, 1991, he was hired by the flagship airlines and initially flew Jetstream 32 aircraft at the rank of first officer. He also had a type rating for the Shorts 330 . By the time of the accident, he had accumulated 3,499 hours of flight experience, 2,294 of which in turboprop aircraft . His flight experience with the Jetstream 32 was 457 hours.

First mate Matthew Sailor, 25, began his pilot career in 1991. He was hired by Flagship Airlines on December 6, 1993 and from the start flew in the role of First Officer on board the Jetstream 32. He had 3452 hours of flight experience, 677 of which he had completed in the cockpit of the Jetstream 32.

the accident

The machine took off from Greensboro at 6:05 p.m. The departure was delayed due to delays in loading the luggage. The aircraft climbed to a cruising altitude of 9,000 feet and the pilots contacted approach control in Raleigh at 6:14 p.m. They were instructed to reduce the speed to 180 knots (about 330 km / h) and to drop to 6,000 feet (about 1,800 meters). Final approach control at Raleigh was contacted at 18:25 and the pilots were instructed to reduce the speed to 170 knots (approx. 310 km / h) and to decrease to 3,000 feet (approx. 910 meters). Clearance has been granted for runway 05L in Raleigh. At 6:30 p.m. the air traffic controller advised the pilot to make a left turn and take the localizer course for the final approach.

Shortly after receiving the landing permit, the control lamp for the left engine came on. This was due to a momentary negative torque at the time the propeller speed levers were advanced to 100% and the thrust levers were idle. On the basis of the control lamp, Captain Hillis suspected a flame out and decided to make a missed approach. The speed had dropped to 122 knots (approx. 226 km / h) and two brief stall warnings sounded when the pilot called out maximum thrust. At this point the aircraft was making a left turn at an altitude of 550 meters and the speed continued to drop to 103 knots (approx. 191 km / h), followed by further stall warnings. The machine eventually began to descend at a speed of more than 300 meters per minute, grazed some trees and crashed at 6:34 p.m. about 6.4 kilometers southwest of the runway threshold.

root cause

In the course of the accident investigations, significant deficiencies in the training of the flight captain Hillis were identified. This failed in numerous points in a first officer test in 1990, including starts with simulated engine failures.

On October 24, 1995, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) published its final report on the crash. In essence, the flight captain Hillis was blamed for the crash. The sequence of events that led to the crash started with his erroneous assumption that an engine had failed. Hillis did not follow the operating rules for flights with a failed engine, for going around and for preventing and managing stall. The management of Flagship Airlines was accused of failing to identify, document, monitor and correct deficiencies in the efficiency and training of the pilots.

swell

Coordinates: 35 ° 50 ′ 5 ″  N , 78 ° 52 ′ 1 ″  W.