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Continental Express Embraer EMB-120 RT accident

29 Apr 1993 · Pine Bluff, AR, United States

Embraer EMB-120 RT · Accident: loss of control in flight en route

From Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT) to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)

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Event

NTSB case
FTW93MA143
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Charter & commuter
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Embraer EMB-120 RT

Aircraft type
Embraer EMB-120
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N24706
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT), Little Rock, ARTo George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, TX
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
En route · climb to cruise
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Loss of control in flight
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Stall
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Airspeed, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Autopilot, improper use of
  • Pilot in command › Diverted attention
  • Pilot in command › Remedial action, improper
  • Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
  • Pilot in command › Supervision, inadequate
  • Wing › Ice

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

IN CLIMB, CAPTAIN (PIC) INCREASED PITCH, WHEN FLIGHT ATTENDANT (F/A) ENTERED COCKPIT & SUGGESTED FASTER CLIMB, SO SHE COULD BEGIN CABIN SERVICE. AUTOFLIGHT WAS SET IN PITCH & HEADING MODES, CONTRARY TO COMPANY POLICY. PIC & F/A HAD NON- PERTINENT CONVERSATION FOR 4.5 MIN, WHILE 1ST OFFICER (F/O) WAS MAKING LOG ENTRIES. AIRPLANE STALLED IN IMC AT 17,400'. INITIAL RECOVERY WAS AT 6700' AFTER F/O LOWER GEAR, THEN DUE TO IMPROPER RECOVERY, 2ND STALL OCCURRED & RECOVERY WAS AT 5500'. LEFT PROPELLER SHED 3 BLADES, LEFT ENGINE COWLING SEPARATED, LEFT ENGINE WAS SHUT DOWN IN DESCENT. LEVEL FLIGHT COULD NOT BE MAINTAINED & FORCED LANDING WAS MADE AT CLOSED AIRPORT. PIC OVERSHOT FINAL TURN DUE TO CONTROLLABILITY PROBLEMS & LANDED FAST WITH 1880' OF WET RUNWAY REMAINING. AIRPLANE HYDROPLANED OFF RUNWAY & WAS FURTHER DAMAGED. CREW GOT LIMITED SLEEP DURING 3 DAY TRIP, THOUGH REST PERIODS AVAILABLE. FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 11,500', CLOUDS TOPS TO 21,000' WITH POTENTIAL FOR ICING TO 19,000'. NO PRE-ACCIDENT MALFUNCTION WAS FOUND. (SEE NTSB SUMMARY RPRT: NTSB/AAR-94/02/SUM)

Probable cause

THE CAPTAIN'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN PROFESSIONAL COCKPIT DISCIPLINE, HIS CONSEQUENT INATTENTION TO FLIGHT INSTRUMENTS AND ICE ACCRETION, AND HIS SELECTION OF AN IMPROPER AUTOFLIGHT VERTICAL MODE, ALL OF WHICH LED TO AN AERODYNAMIC STALL, LOSS OF CONTROL, AND A FORCED LANDING. FACTORS CONTIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: POOR CREW DISCIPLINE, INCLUDING FLIGHTCREW COORDINATION BEFORE THE STALL AND THE FLIGHTCREW'S INAPPROPRIATE ACTIONS TO RECOVER FROM THE LOSS OF CONTROL. ALSO CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS FATIGUE INDUCED BY THE FLIGHTCREW'S FAILURE TO PROPERLY MANAGE PROVIDED REST PERIODS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW93MA143
Event ID
20001211X12152
Case number
FTW93MA143
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: cf1c6bed0c5aa55e6bd724f2ec16fdab4e38d05ea0688aeb3bd74288b200506a; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:37:18.019Z.