Greensboro – Raleigh

On December 13, 1994 at 06:34 PM, Greensboro – Raleigh experienced a crash involving BAe Jetstream 31, operated by American Eagle, with the event recorded near Raleigh-Durham North Carolina.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

20 people were known to be on board, 15 fatalities were recorded, 5 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 75.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 18, passenger fatalities: 13, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Flight 3379 departed Greensboro at 18:03 with a little delay due to baggage rearrangement. The aircraft climbed to a 9,000 feet cruising altitude and contacted Raleigh approach control at 18:14, receiving an instruction to reduce the speed to 180 knots and descend to 6,000 feet. Raleigh final radar control was contacted at 18:25 and instructions were received to reduce the speed to 170 knots and to descend to 3,000 feet. At 18:30 the flight was advised to turn left and join the localizer course at or above 2,100 feet for a runway 05L ILS approach. Shortly after receiving clearance to land, the n°1 engine ignition light illuminated in the cockpit as a result of a momentary negative torque condition when the propeller speed levers were advanced to 100% and the power levers were at flight idle. The captain suspected an engine flame out and eventually decided to execute a missed approach. The speed had decreased to 122 knots and two momentary stall warnings sounded as the pilot called for max power. The aircraft was in a left turn at 1,800 feet and the speed continued to decrease to 103 knots, followed by stall warnings. The rate of descent then increased rapidly to more than 10,000 feet/min. The aircraft eventually struck some trees and crashed about 4 nm southwest of the runway 05L threshold. Five passengers survived while 15 other occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration N918AE, MSN 918, year of manufacture 1990.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 35.9353°, -78.8135°.