• May 8, 1987:
American Eagle Flight 5452, operated by regional airline
Executive Airlines, a
CASA 212-200, was on a domestic passenger flight between
San Juan, Puerto Rico-
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico when it crashed short of Runway 09 while landing at Mayaguez. After impact, the plane continued through a chain-link fence and ditch. Two of six occupants (four passengers and two crew) were killed. The cause of the crash was determined to be improper maintenance in setting the flight idle propeller and engine fuel flow. • February 19, 1988:
American Eagle Flight 3378, a
Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner operated by Air Virginia, was on a regularly scheduled flight between
Raleigh-
Richmond when it crashed into a reservoir about a mile from
Raleigh-Durham International Airport, from where it had departed, in the vicinity of
Cary, North Carolina. The aircraft departed during low-ceiling, low-visibility, and night conditions. Analysis of radar data indicated the aircraft was in a 45-degree descending turn. Both crew members and all 10 passengers were killed. • June 7, 1992:
American Eagle Flight 5456, operated by regional airline
Executive Airlines, was on a regular flight between
San Juan, Puerto Rico and
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico when it lost control and crashed nose-down about 3/4 mile from the
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico airport. Both crew and all three passengers were killed. The aircraft involved was a
CASA 212-200. • February 1, 1994: American Eagle Flight 3641, a
Saab 340 operated by Simmons Airlines, crash landed at False River Air Park in New Roads, Louisiana; only one minor injury was reported. • October 31, 1994:
American Eagle Flight 4184, an
ATR 72 operated by AMR's regional airline
Simmons Airlines, crashed near Roselawn, Indiana. The aircraft inverted, dived, and crashed from a holding pattern at 10,000 feet (3050 m) "after a ridge of ice accreted beyond the deice boots" resulting in an unexpected aileron hinge moment reversal that subsequently resulted in the loss of control. The four crew and 64 passengers were all killed. In the months following the accident, American Eagle redeployed its ATR fleet to Miami and the Caribbean where icing is not an issue. The aircraft manufacturer, ATR, has since improved the anti-ice boots. The American Eagle aircraft were modified with the updated deicing system. All ATR 72s were retired from American Eagle's fleet in 2013. • December 13, 1994:
American Eagle Flight 3379, operated by AMR's regional airline
Flagship Airlines, a
Jetstream 31, was on a regularly scheduled
Raleigh-
Greensboro-
Raleigh service when it crashed into a wooded area about four miles southwest of the
Raleigh-Durham International Airport in the vicinity of
Morrisville, NC. Of the 20 onboard (18 passengers and two crewmembers) 15 were killed while the five survivors received serious injuries. The probable cause of the crash was the pilot not following proper procedure in an engine-failure situation. • July 9, 1995: American Eagle Flight 4127, an
ATR 72 operated by
Simmons Airlines, experienced loss of the rear cabin entry door during its climb after taking off from
O'Hare International Airport in
Chicago. The cabin door opened shortly after the first officer began to pressurize the cabin; therefore, only a slight pressure differential existed between the cabin and atmospheric pressures. Lack of damage indicates the door was unlocked/unlatched when it opened. The airplane was one of fifteen aircraft equipped with a new handrail and door handle design different from the majority of the
ATR 72 fleet. The old handle was pulled down to latch/lock the door and pushed up to unlatch/unlock the door. The direction of motion was reversed, requiring the handle to be pushed up to latch/lock the door, and pulled down to unlatch/unlock it. On July 10, 1995, a private citizen discovered the separated door submerged in approximately two feet of water in the Des Plaines River. In response to this incident, ATR developed a new door handle design that reinstated the original motion, where pushing up unlatches/unlocks the door, and pulling down latches/locks it. • May 8, 1999: American Eagle Flight 4925, a Saab 340B, registered N232AE, crashed on approach to JFK airport after being held in a holding pattern due to the visibility on the ground being below minimums. The flight descended too rapidly; however, because the flight crew were
sleep deprived, they believed they were descending normally, even though there were cockpit alarms going off telling that they were not, in fact radar data revealed that they were descending at 2,950 ft/min. Later, when the flight was over the runway, the pilot descended and touched down 7,000 feet past the touch down point, and even though they used full brakes and reverse thrust, the plane departed the runway at 75 knots and traveled 248 feet past the threshold before stopping. As a result, there was only one serious injury; everyone else was unharmed. The NTSB determined that pilot fatigue was a culprit in the accident. • May 9, 2004: American Eagle Flight 5401, an
ATR 72 operated by
Executive Airlines, crashed in
San Juan,
Puerto Rico after the captain lost control of the aircraft while landing. Seventeen people were injured, but there were no fatalities. • January 2006: American Eagle Flight 3008 from
San Luis Obispo to
Los Angeles, a
Saab 340 operated by
American Eagle Airlines, encountered icing at 11,000 feet and regained control only at 6,500 feet, after some 50 seconds' descent. During the incident, in which no one was injured, the
autopilot disconnected, the stall alarm/clacker sounded, and the plane rolled sharply left and right, experienced vibration, and pitched down. Manual deice boots were activated and ice could be heard shedding off and striking the
fuselage. The NTSB report on this incident referenced three other Saab 340 icing incidents, as well as the Flight 4184 incident referenced above. The three were November 11, 1998, in
Eildon Weir, Victoria,
Australia; June 28, 2002, in
Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia; and June 18, 2004, in
Albury, New South Wales, Australia. • February 15, 2017: American Eagle Flight 5320 from
Charlotte Douglas International Airport to
Gulfport–Biloxi International Airport struck a deer while taking off from runway 36C. The
CRJ-700 was forced to turn around and abort the flight. The plane could be seen trailing a vapor stream from the right-wing as it circled back to land. Officials said there was a fuel leak, and crews sprayed the plane with foam. There were no injuries. The aircraft would later crash as
Flight 5342. • November 11, 2019: American Eagle Flight 4125 from Greensboro, North Carolina, to Chicago O’ Hare International Airport, an
Embraer ERJ-145 operated by Envoy Air, slid off the runway while landing in icy conditions. All 38 passengers and three crew were uninjured. • January 29, 2025:
American Eagle Flight 5342 from
Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport to
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a
Bombardier CRJ701ER, operated by
PSA Airlines, collided with a
United States Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on final approach to Reagan Airport when the Blackhawk flew into the path of the CRJ701ER, causing both to crash into the Potomac River, killing all 60 passengers and 4 crew on board along with all 3 crew on board the helicopter. This was the first
hull loss and fatal accident involving the Bombardier CRJ700 series. ==References==