Date:	Friday 19 February 1988
Time:	21:27
Type:	Fairchild SA227-AC Metro III
Owner/operator:	American Eagle
Registration:	N622AV
MSN:	AC-622
Year of manufacture:	1985
Total airframe hrs:	4222 hours
Engine model:	Garrett TPE331-11U-611G
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 12 / Occupants: 12
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	1,5 km W of Raleigh/Durham Airport, NC (RDU) -   United States of America
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Raleigh/Durham Airport, NC (RDU/KRDU)
Destination airport:	Richmond International Airport (Byrd Field), VA (RIC/KRIC)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
American Eagle flight 3378, operated by AVAir, crashed shortly after it departed runway 23R at Raleigh Durham International Airport (RDU), North Carolina, USA. The airplane Fairchild Metro III struck water within 100 feet of the shoreline of a reservoir, about 5100 feet west of the midpoint of runway 23R. The airplane was destroyed and all 12 persons on board were killed.

On December 13, 1988, the Safety Board determined the probable cause of the accident as follows: "The failure of the flight crew to maintain a proper flight path because of the first officer's inappropriate instrument scan, the captain's inadequate monitoring of the flight, and the flight crew's response to a perceived fault in the airplane's stall avoidance system (SAS). Contributing to the accident was the lack of company response to documented indications of difficulties in the first officer's piloting, and inadequate Federal Aviation Administration surveillance of AVAir."
Then-Board Members John K . Lauber and Joseph T. Nall provided concurring and dissenting statements in which they proposed that the probable cause should read as follows: "The failure of the flightcrew to maintain a proper flightpath in response to an actual or perceived fault in the airplane's stall avoidance system. Contributing to the accident were ineffective management and supervision of flightcrew training and flight operations, and ineffective FAA surveillance of AVAir."

On January 28, 1993, the Air Line Pilots Association's (ALPA) filed a petition for reconsideration and modification of the findings and probable cause. The NTSB granted the petition in part. The probable cause and was modified to read as follows:
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was a failure of the flight crew to maintain a proper flightpath. Contributing to the accident were the ineffective management and supervision of flight crew training and flight operations, and ineffective FAA surveillance of AVAir."

ICAO Adrep Summary 6/89 (#22)
NTSB/AAR-88/10
NTSB Response to Petition for Reconsideration

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