Continental Express Flight 2574
Embraer 120 · In-flight structural failure due to maintenance error leading to in-flight breakup
From Laredo International Airport (LRD) to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA91MA052
- 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
- 14 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 14
- 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
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- 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 120
- Flight
- RU2574
- Aircraft type
- Embraer 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
- N33701
- Operator
- Continental Express
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Laredo International Airport (LRD), Laredo, TXTo 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 · descent
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Company maintenance personnel › Maintenance, improper
- Horizontal stabilizer surface › Not secured
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Continental Express Flight 2574 was a scheduled domestic passenger airline flight operated by Britt Airways from Laredo International Airport in Laredo, Texas to Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) (now called George Bush Intercontinental Airport) in Houston, Texas. On September 11, 1991, the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia turboprop, registered N33701, crashed while initiating its landing sequence, killing all 14 people on board. The aircraft wreckage hit an area near Eagle Lake, Texas, approximately 65 mi west-southwest of the airport.
The media stated that there was initial speculation that a bomb had destroyed the aircraft; the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) subsequently discovered that missing screws on the horizontal stabilizer led to the breakup.
Accident
The EMB 120 departed Laredo International Airport at 09:09 local time, operating under Federal Aviation Regulation Part 135. After a normal takeoff, the flight was assigned a cruise altitude of flight level 250
(25,000 ft), then reassigned to FL240 (24,000 ft). At 09:54, the flight crew responded to the Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center and started descending to 9,000 ft. At approximately 10:03 while descending through 11,500 ft with an indicated airspeed of 260 kn, the leading edge of the left horizontal stabilizer separated from the airframe, and the airplane pitched down dramatically, rolling around on an axis as the left wing broke and folded. The escaping fuel from the wings ignited, and the pilots and others onboard lost consciousness from the severe g-forces, which reached at least 3.375 times the force of gravity, caused by the severe oscillations of the crippled aircraft.
The wreckage fell in southeast Colorado County, Texas, exploding on impact, off Farm to Market Road 102, 7 mi southeast of Eagle Lake, Texas, and 60 mi west of Downtown Houston. The Texas Department of Public Safety announced that rescue units had discovered no survivors. The wreckage was spread over a 2- to 4 sqmi area, and some pieces fell into the Colorado River. Diamonds worth approximately $500,000 (1991 value; $ in ) were discovered in the wreckage, but they had no role in the crash.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation revealed that screws had been removed from the horizontal stabilizer during maintenance the night before the accident and, following a shift change, the screws had not been replaced. The aircraft's first flight of the day was uneventful because it did not reach the accident flight's top speed of 260 kn.
The NTSB cited the failure of airline maintenance and inspection personnel to adhere to proper maintenance and quality-assurance procedures. The failure of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) surveillance to detect and verify compliance with approved procedures was cited as a contributing factor. Following the accident, the FAA conducted a National Aviation Safety Inspection Program (NASIP) of Continental Express' maintenance program. It found very few safety deficiencies and complimented the airline on its internal evaluation system. The NTSB expressed concern that the NASIP did not find deficiencies in shift-turnover procedures and other matters relevant to the accident and recommended that the agency improve its NASIP procedures.
Probable cause
The NTSB determined the probable causes of the accident as follows:
The failure of Continental Express maintenance and inspection personnel to adhere to proper maintenance and quality assurance procedures for the airplane's horizontal stabilizer de-ice boots that led to the sudden in-flight loss of the partially secured left horizontal stabilizer leading edge and the immediate severe nose-down pitchover and breakup of the airplane. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the failure of the Continental Express management to ensure compliance with the approved maintenance procedures, and the failure of FAA surveillance to detect and verify compliance with approved procedures.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Continental Express Flight 2574” (revision 1371703661, 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 BROKE UP IN FLIGHT WHILE DESCENDING FROM FL240. THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER, OR TOP OF THE T-TYPE TAIL, HAD SEPARATED FROM THE FUSELAGE BEFORE GROUND IMPACT. EXAMINATION REVEALED THAT THE 47 SCREW FASTENERS THAT WOULD HAVE ATTACHED THE UPPER SURFACE OF THE LEADING EDGE ASSEMBLY FOR THE LEFT SIDE OF THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER WERE MISSING. THEY HAD BEEN REMOVED THE NIGHT BEFORE DURING SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THERE WAS A LACK OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE FAA-APPROVED GENERAL MAINTENANCE MANUAL PROCEDURES BY THE MECHANICS, INSPECTORS, AND SUPERVISORS RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSURING THE AIRWORTHINESS OF THE AIRPLANE THE NIGHT BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. IN ADDITION, ROUTINE SURVEILLANCE OF THE CONTINENTAL EXPRESS MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT BY THE FAA WAS INADEQUATE AND DID NOT DETECT DEFICIENCIES, SUCH AS THOSE THAT LED TO THIS ACCIDENT.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF CONTINENTAL EXPRESS MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTION PERSONNEL TO ADHERE TO PROPER MAINTENANCE AND QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCEDURES FOR THE AIRPLANE'S HORIZONTAL STABILIZER DEICE BOOTS THAT LED TO THE SUDDEN IN-FLIGHT LOSS OF THE PARTIALLY SECURED LEFT HORIZONTAL STABILIZER LEADING EDGE AND THE IMMEDIATE SEVERE NOSE-DOWN PITCHOVER AND BREAKUP OF THE AIRPLANE. CONTRIBUTING TO THE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT WAS THE FAILURE OF CONTINENTAL EXPRESS MANAGEMENT TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH THE APPROVED MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES, AND THE FAILURE OF THE FAA SURVEILLANCE TO DETECT AND VERIFY COMPLIANCE WITH APPROVED PROCEDURES. (NTSB REPORT AAR-92/04)
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Continental Express Flight 2574
- Revision
- 1371703661 · 2026-08-28 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q3662192
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA91MA052
- Event ID
- 20001212X18077
- Case number
- DCA91MA052
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Continental Express Flight 2574" (page 8179507, revision 1371703661); merged with NTSB case DCA91MA052 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record DCA91MA052: NTSB API eventDate, eventTimeUtc and eventTimeUtcOffsetHours (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record DCA91MA052
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record DCA91MA052: 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 DCA91MA052: operated under Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Fatalities
- NTSB record DCA91MA052: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record DCA91MA052: NTSB API ongroundFatal
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Continental Express Flight 2574" and NTSB case DCA91MA052, 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.