Comair Flight 3272
Comair Flight 3272 was a Comair flight from Cincinnati to Detroit on Thursday, January 9, 1997. While on approach for landing, the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft crashed nose-down 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport at 15:54 EST. All 29 aboard, 26 passengers and three crew members, were killed.
A Comair Embraer EMB-120, similar to the one involved | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | January 9, 1997 |
| Summary | Atmospheric icing leading to loss of control |
| Site | Raisinville Township, near Dundee, Michigan, U.S. 41°57′48.08″N 83°33′8.39″W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Embraer 120 RT Brasilia |
| Operator | Comair (as Delta Connection) |
| Call sign | COMAIR 3272 |
| Registration | N265CA |
| Flight origin | Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport |
| Destination | Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport |
| Occupants | 29 |
| Passengers | 26 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 29 |
| Survivors | 0 |
The cause of the crash was determined to be inadequate and out of date flight crew procedures for icing conditions. Some of these originated with the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to specify suitable minimum airspeeds for icing conditions, while some were Comair procedure manual defects, including superseded instructions on the use of de-icing boots that did not follow the aircraft manufacturer's instructions.