American Airlines Flight 2
Douglas DC-3-277A · Controlled flight into terrain, cause unknown
From Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT) to Memphis Municipal Airport, Memphis, Tennessee
Event
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 24 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 24
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 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
Douglas DC-3-277A
- Flight
- AA2
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- 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
- NC21767
- Operator
- American Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 24
- Route
- From Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT)To Memphis Municipal Airport, Memphis, Tennessee
Cause areas
- Not determined › Not determined
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
American Airlines Flight 2 was a Douglas DC-3 that crashed into the Mississippi River on February 10, 1944. All twenty-four passengers and crew were killed. The ultimate cause of the crash remains a mystery.
Flight and aircraft
Flight 2 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight between Little Rock National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis Municipal Airport in Memphis, Tennessee. The aircraft was a DC-3-277A manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company and operated by American Airlines. The craft was five years old, having first entered service in 1939, and had accumulated a total of 12,446 hours of flight time at the time of the crash.
The plane departed Little Rock National Airport with three crew and twenty-one passengers on board. At 11:36 pm, approximately 29 km southwest of Memphis Municipal Airport, the DC-3 descended at an angle of 20 degrees, the right wing slightly low, and struck the Mississippi River. There was no abnormal radio contact prior to the crash. All twenty-four people on the DC-3 were killed.
Flight 2 today
As of 2023, Flight 2 is used on the Los Angeles-New York City (JFK) route, contrary to the convention of retiring flight numbers that have crashed.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Civil Aeronautics Board investigated the crash, but was unable to determine the probable cause of the accident. The report that was subsequently issued stated that the investigation would continue and a supplemental report would be issued as to their findings, but no such report was ever filed.
Text from the Wikipedia article “American Airlines Flight 2” (revision 1339307468, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: American Airlines Flight 2
- Article
- American Airlines Flight 2
- Revision
- 1339307468 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4742941
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "American Airlines Flight 2" (page 22939559, revision 1339307468)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.