Flagship Airlines Saab-Scania AB (Saab) 340B incident
Saab-Scania AB (Saab) 340B · Incident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From Nashville International Airport (BNA) to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL92IA169
- 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
- Incident
- 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
- Airline
- 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
Saab-Scania AB (Saab) 340B
- Aircraft type
- Saab Scania Ab (saab) 340
- 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
- N245AE
- Operator
- Flagship Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Nashville International Airport (BNA), Nashville, TNTo Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, GA
- 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 121: Air Carrier
- 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 · 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- None
Cause areas
- Propeller system/accessories, prop control unit › Contamination
- Propeller system/accessories, prop control unit › Failure, total
- Turboshaft engine, reduction gear box › Seized
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE FLIGHT WAS CRUISING AT AN ALTITUDE OF 15,000 FEET. THE FLIGHT CREW OBSERVED THE PROPELLER OIL PRESSURE FOR THE LEFT ENGINE RISE ABOVE THE RED LINE, AND SHUT THE ENGINE DOWN. THE FLIGHT WAS OVER CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, AND THE PILOT ELECTED TO LAND AT CHATTANOOGA. THE FLIGHT CREW UNSUCCESSFULLY ATTEMPTED SEVERAL TIMES TO FEATHER THE PROPELLER. THE FLIGHT CREW REPORTED THAT AT SOME POINT, PRIOR TO EXITING THE RUNWAY AFTER LANDING, THE AIRCRAFT PROPELLER HAD STOPPED ROTATING. EXAMINATION OF THE PROPELLER GEAR BOX REVEALED THAT THE GEAR BOX WAS SEIZED AS A RESULT OF A FAILURE WITHIN THE GEAR BOX. EXAMINATION OF THE PROPELLER CONTROL UNIT REVEALED THAT THE UNIT WAS FAILED TO PITCHLOCK AS A RESULT OF CONTAMINATED OIL SUPPLY FROM THE GEAR BOX. VELOCITY MINIMUM CONTROL WITH A NON ROTATING PROPELLER HAS NOT BEEN DETERMINED FOR THIS AIRCRAFT.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE AND SUBSEQUENT SEIZURE OF THE REDUCTION GEAR BOX, AND THE FAILURE OF THE PROPELLER CONTROL UNIT AS A RESULT OF CONTAMINATED OIL SUPPLY WHICH IS SHARED WITH THE GEAR BOX.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL92IA169
- Event ID
- 20001211X15315
- Case number
- ATL92IA169
- 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, damage. 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: fa9ae4bdf7900a6a800838889a69790a6a63ca188ad728203fd05b0638226a87; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:44:13.816Z.