Flagship Airlines Flight 3379
British Aerospace JETSTREAM 3201 JETSTREAM · Loss of control during go-around due to pilot error
From Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO) to Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA95MA006
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 15 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 20
- Survivors
- 5
- 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
- 5
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
British Aerospace JETSTREAM 3201 JETSTREAM
- Aircraft type
- British Aerospace JETSTREAM 3201
- 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
- N918AE
- Operator
- Flagship Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO), Greensboro, NCTo Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), Raleigh, NC
- 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
- Approach · IFR final approach
- 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
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Flagship Airlines Flight 3379 (on behalf of American Eagle) was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Greensboro to Raleigh, North Carolina. On December 13, 1994, the aircraft operating the flight entered a stall on approach to Raleigh-Durham International Airport and crashed 4 miles southwest of the runway threshold, killing both pilots and 13 of the 18 passengers. The remaining occupants suffered injuries. The investigation found that the aircraft had executed a go-around on approach which was mishandled, leading to a midair stall and impact with the ground.
Accident
Weather along the flight route of flight 3379 was reported to be foggy with sleet and slush covering the ground at Raleigh-Durham Airport with an average temperature of 37 °F with steady drizzle. The flight took off from Greensboro at 18:03 local time. The flight to Raleigh was relatively uneventful. On approach to Raleigh Airport, the crew decided to perform an ILS approach to runway 5L. The aircraft descended from 9,000 feet to 3,000 feet while reducing speed. At 18:32, the flight was cleared to land to which the crew acknowledged. This was the final transmission received from the aircraft. Moments later, the CVR recorded an increase in engine power and two simultaneous stall warnings go off. The airspeed continued to decrease and the aircraft entered a rapid descent of up to 10,000 feet per minute before impacting the ground 4 miles southwest of the runway threshold, bursting into flames and killing both pilots as well as 13 of the 18 passengers. The aircraft was written off.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) opened an investigation into the cause of the crash. The analysis found that during the approach to runway 5L, the captain became distracted by a warning light going off in the cockpit and assumed that an engine had failed. In response, the captain called for a go-around and try the landing again. However, the captain mishandled the go-around procedure, allowing the aircraft's speed to decrease to the point where flight was no longer possible and the aircraft subsequently entered a stall condition. The captain also mishandled this. Despite the first officer following the captain's command to push the nose down, there was insufficient altitude for the aircraft to gain speed and recover from the stall. On October 24, 1995, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released their report on the crash. The crash was blamed on Captain Hillis incorrectly assuming that an engine had failed and decided to conduct a go-around. The captain (who was cited for failing to follow cockpit procedures at previous airlines he had flown before being hired by Flagship Airlines) failed to follow the proper procedures for a single-engine go-around. Hillis also failed to follow approved procedures for a single-engine approach, go-around, as well as proper stall recovery techniques. Flagship Airlines management was blamed for failing to identify, document, monitor, and remedy deficiencies in pilot performance and training.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Flagship Airlines Flight 3379” (revision 1369258133, 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
NTSB narrative
The airplane crashed about 4 miles southwest of the runway 5L threshold during an ILS approach. The captain had associated the illumination of the left engine IGN light, illuminated as a result of a momentary negative torque condition when the propeller speed levers were advanced tp 100% and the power levers were at flight idle, with an engine failure. There was no evidence of an engine failure. The captain failed to follow established procedures for engine failure identification, single engine appoach, single engine go-around, and stall recovery. AMR Eagle training did not adequately address the recognition of engine failure at low power, the aerodynamic effects of asymmetric thrust from a 'windmilling' propeller, and high thrust on the other engine. AMR Eagle and Flagship Airlines crew training records do not provide sufficient detail for management to track performance. Flagship Airlines management was deficient in its knowledge of the types of crew records available, and in the content and use of such records.
Probable cause
1) the captain's improper assumption that an engine had failed, and 2) the captain's subsequent failure to follow approved procedures for engine failure, single-engine approach and go-around, and stall recovery. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the failure of AMR Eagle/Flagship management to identify, document, monitor, and remedy deficiencies in pilot performance and training. (NTSB Report AAR-95/07)
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Flagship Airlines Flight 3379
- Revision
- 1369258133 · 2026-08-13 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q16974827
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA95MA006
- Event ID
- 20001206X02708
- Case number
- DCA95MA006
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Flagship Airlines Flight 3379" (page 42762053, revision 1369258133); merged with NTSB case DCA95MA006 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record DCA95MA006: NTSB API eventDate, eventTimeUtc and eventTimeUtcOffsetHours (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record DCA95MA006
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record DCA95MA006: aircraft; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record DCA95MA006: operated under Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Fatalities
- NTSB record DCA95MA006: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record DCA95MA006: NTSB API ongroundFatal
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Flagship Airlines Flight 3379" and NTSB case DCA95MA006, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- 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.