28 May 2014: EMBRAER EMB 135KL NO SERIES — American Connection

28 May 2014: EMBRAER EMB 135KL NO SERIES (N299SK) — American Connection

No fatalities • Traverse City, MI, United States

Probable cause

An in-flight collision with a bird during the descent to land, which resulted in substantial damage to the airplane.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On May 28, 2014, about 1500 eastern daylight time, an Embraer EMB-135KL, N299SK, sustained substantial damage from a bird strike during approach to runway 10 at the Cherry Capital Airport, Traverse City, Michigan. There were no injuries to the two flight crewmembers, the cabin attendant, or the 42 passengers. The airplane sustained damage to the windshield, skins, frame and internal supports in the area near the first officer's windshield. The aircraft was registered to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest and operated by Chautauqua Airlines under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as domestic passenger flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan. The flight originated from the Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, about 1412.The pilot reported that the airplane was about 10 miles southwest of TVC and was set up for the visual approach to runway 10. While descending through 3,500 to 3,000 feet above mean sea level (msl), the airplane struck a bird which impacted just below the first officer's windshield. The pilot reported that the bird had punctured a hole just below the windshield and through the wall above and left of the first officer's feet. The pilot informed air traffic control of the bird strike. The airplane landed safely and continued normally to the gate.

Examination of the airplane revealed bird remains in the area of the damage near the first officer's windshield. The bird remains were later identified as those from a Common Loon.

Contributing factors

  • cause Contributed to outcome

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 030/08kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.