ExpressJet Embraer EMB-145LR incident
Embraer EMB-145LR and Bombardier Inc CL-600-2B19 · Incident: air traffic event during takeoff
Event
- NTSB case
- OPS11IA552
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Embraer EMB-145LR
- Aircraft type
- Embraer EMB-145
- 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
- N15574
- Operator
- ExpressJet
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chicago O'Hare International Airport (KORD), Chicago, ILTo Buffalo Niagara International Airport (KBUF), Buffalo, NY
- 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
- Takeoff
- Defining eventThe 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
- Air traffic event
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- None
Aircraft 2 · Bombardier Inc CL-600-2B19
- Aircraft type
- Bombardier CL-600
- 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
- N905SW
- Operator
- ExpressJet
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Muskegon County Airport (KMKG), Muskegon County, MITo Chicago O'Hare International Airport (KORD), Chicago, IL
- 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
- Approach
- Defining eventThe 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
- Air traffic event
- 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
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Chicago, IL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
A near-midair collision occurred between a Bombardier CRJ2 landing on runway 9R and an Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet departing from runway 32L. The CRJ2 passed 480 feet behind and 275 feet above the ERJ-145. According to the tower air traffic controller responsible for operations on runway 32L, he scanned the final approach course for runway 9R to look for conflicting traffic and saw the approaching CRJ2. However, he then forgot about the arrival and cleared the ERJ-145 for takeoff. The controller was unable to provide any explanation for the lapse. The airport was not equipped with automated assistance for detecting conflicts between departures and arrivals on crossing runways such as these.
Probable cause
The air traffic controller’s failure to adhere to runway separation requirements and his issuance of an improper takeoff clearance. Contributing to the incident was the controller's failure to recall that there was an arrival inbound to a crossing runway.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record OPS11IA552
- Event ID
- 20110518X94643
- Case number
- OPS11IA552
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (6)
- 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: 19af63afd9fff204baec8862a4a1fc7553d9337033291fbf42abfbc2878b7d26; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:18:53.338Z.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N15574; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N905SW; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.