On October 14, 2004, Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701 (ICAO: FLG3701, IATA: 9E3701, or Flagship 3701) crashed near Jefferson City, Missouri, while flying from Little Rock National Airport to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. The two pilots, the only occupants on board, were killed. Federal investigators determined the crash was due to the pilots' unprofessional behavior and disregard for training and procedures.
Aircraft and crew
Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701, operating under the Northwest Airlink banner, was a repositioning flight of an empty 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 (aircraft registration ). The aircraft was built in 2000 and had accumulated 10,168 hours of flight time and completed 9,613 flight cycles at the time of the crash.
On October 14, 2004, a different Pinnacle Airlines flight crew was scheduled to fly the incident aircraft from Little Rock National Airport to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, but this crew received an error message and aborted their take-off. Pinnacle Airlines dispatched maintenance crews to Little Rock to resolve the problem. The problem was identified and fixed. Because the aircraft was needed in Minneapolis the next morning, Flight 3701 was scheduled overnight as a repositioning flight, to move the plane from Little Rock to Minneapolis.
The only persons on board Flight 3701 were the two pilots, Captain Jesse Rhodes (31) and First Officer Peter Cesarz (23). Cesarz trained at Gulfstream Academy, and Rhodes trained at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, both in Florida. Both pilots flew for Gulfstream International Airlines before being hired for Pinnacle Airlines. Rhodes had logged a total of 6,900 flight hours, including 973 hours on the CRJ-200, and Cesarz had 761 hours, with 222 of them on the CRJ-200.
Accident
Flight 3701 departed Little Rock at 21:21 Central Daylight Time (CDT). The flight plan from Little Rock to Minneapolis indicated a planned cruising altitude of Flight Level (FL) 330, or about . After departing Little Rock, the plane pitched up sharply several times during its ascent, briefly reaching a climb rate of .
At 21:35, Flight 3701 requested clearance to climb to , the maximum operating altitude of the Bombardier CRJ series. Clearance was granted by air traffic control (ATC) at 21:36, and the plane climbed to its new cruising altitude shortly thereafter. Air traffic control commented about the unusual altitude and the captain replied, "we don't have any passengers on board so we decided to have a little fun and come on up here." At 21:54, the pilots began to struggle with control of their plane. Both engines lost power and the plane's stick shaker warned the pilots of an impending stall. The pilots declared an emergency and descended, temporarily regaining control of their aircraft at .
The pilots attempted to restart the engines, but could not do so. At 22:09, Flight 3701 asked ATC to direct them to the nearest airport for an emergency landing, and the controller on duty directed them to Jefferson City Memorial Airport in Jefferson City, Missouri. At 22:14, the pilots realized they were not going to reach the airport and began looking for a road or highway on which to land.
Around 22:14, the captain was heard on the CVR stating that the gear should be up to avoid houses. About a minute later, the plane crashed into the ground outside Jefferson City. Both crew members were killed, but no casualties occurred on the ground.
Investigation
The investigation into the accident focused mainly on information contained on the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. This is the official version of events as determined by that investigation.
Investigators determined that the two pilots were exploring the performance limits of the empty CRJ-200 on the flight. The pilots decided to test the limits of the CRJ and join the "410 club", referring to pilots who pushed CRJs to their maximal approved altitude of flight level 410 (FL410) or above sea level.
The accident sequence started when the pilots performed several nonstandard maneuvers at , including a pitch-up at 2.3 g (23 m/s) that induced a stall warning. They set the autopilot to climb at to FL410. This exceeded the manufacturer's recommended climb rate at altitudes above FL380. In the attempt to reach FL410, the plane was pulled up at over 1.2 g, and the angle of attack became excessive to maintain climb rate in the thinner upper atmosphere. After reaching FL410, the plane was cruising at indicated airspeed, barely above stall speed, and had over-stressed the engines.