Comair Flight 3272
Accident site | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | January 9, 1997 |
| Summary | Atmospheric icing leading to loss of control; undetermined |
| Site | Raisinville Township, near Dundee, Michigan, U.S. 41°57′48.08″N 83°33′8.39″W / 41.9633556°N 83.5523306°W |
| Aircraft | |
| A Comair Embraer EMB-120, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident | |
| 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 |
Comair Flight 3272 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Comair from Cincinnati International Airport in Kentucky to Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Michigan. On January 9, 1997, at 15:54EST, 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, killing all 29 people on board.
The cause of the crash was determined to be inadequate and out of date flight crew procedures for icing conditions.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to specify suitable minimum airspeeds for icing conditions, while some were Comair procedure manual defects, including superseded instructions on the use of de-icing boots that did not follow the aircraft manufacturer's instructions.