October 31, 1994
Roselawn, Indiana
American Eagle, Flight 4184
ATR-72-212
N401AM

The aircraft was in a holding pattern and was descending to a newly assigned altitude of 8,000 feet when it experienced an uncommanded roll and excursion and crashed during a rapid descent. Icing. The design of the rubber de-icing boot was insufficient to deal with icing on the wings. ATR's failed to completely disclose to operators and incorporate in the ATR 72 airplane flight manual, flightcrew operating manual and flightcrew training programs, adequate information concerning previously known effects of freezing precipitation on the stability and control characteristics, autopilot and related operational procedures when the ATR 72 was operated in such conditions. The French Directorate General Civil Aviation's inadequate oversight of the ATR 42 and 72 and its failure to take the necessary corrective action to ensure continued airworthiness in icing conditions.  All 68 aboard killed.

HOT: Crewmember hot microphone voice or sound source
RDO: Radio transmission from accident aircraft
CAM: Cockpit area microphone voice or sound source
INT: Transmissions over aircraft interphone system
CTR: Radio transmission from Chicago Center
AEC: Radio transmission from American Eagle Chicago Operations Control
KW17: Radio transmission from KIWI flight seventeen.
-B: Sounds heard only through both pilots' hot microphone systems
-1: Voice identified as Pilot-in-Command (PIC)
-2: Voice identified as Co-Pilot
-3: Voice identified as 1st female Flight Attendant
-4: Voice identified as 2nd female Flight Attendant
-?: Voice unidentified
*: Unintelligible word
@: Non pertinent word
#: Expletive
%: Break in continuity
( ): Questionable insertion
[ ]: Editorial insertion
....: Pause

1551: 22 INT- 4 OK, well here. Orlando wants to talk to you.
1551: 24 INT- 2 Orlando does?
1551: 35 INT- 2 hello.
1551: 39 INT- 1 hey bro.
1551: 39 INT- 2 yeah.
1551: 40 INT- 1 gettin' busy with the ladies back here.
1551: 41 INT- 2 oh.
1551: 43 INT- 4 [sound of snicker]
1551: 45 INT- 1 yeah, so if so if I don't make it up there within the next say, fifteen or twenty minutes you know why.
1551: 49 INT- 2 OK.
1551: 50 INT- 1 OK.
1551: 51 INT- 2 I'll uh, when we get close to touchdown I'll give you a ring.
1551: 53 INT- 1 there you go.
1551: 54 INT- 2 *.
1551: 55 INT- 1 no, I'll I'll be up right now. there's somebody in the bathroom so ****.
1551: 55 CAM- [wailing sound similar to "whooler" pitch trim movement for two seconds]
1551: 59 INT- 1 talk to you later.
1552: 00 INT- 2 OK.
1553: 36 KW17 good afternoon Chicago, Kiwi Air seventeen out of twenty for eleven.
1553: 42 CTR Kiwi Air seventeen Chicago center roger. Midway altimeter two niner seven niner.
1553: 48 CAM- [sound of two clicks]
1554: 13 CAM- [sound of several clicks similar to cockpit smoke door being operated]
1554: 16 CAM- 1 we have a brand new hombre.
  CAM- [sound of two clicks similar to captain's seat moving laterally and forward]
1554: 25 HOT- 2 oh yeah.
1554: 30 CAM- [sound of click similar to lap belt being fastened]
1554: 24 HOT- 1 [sound similar to captain's hot microphone bumping against object]
1553: 47 KW17 two niner seven niner, roger.
1554: 38 HOT- 2 hello.
1554: 39 CTR Kiwi Air seventeen, expedite your descent all the way down to eleven, please.
1554: 42 KW17 expedite to eleven, Kiwi Air seventeen.
1554: 47 HOT- 1 did you get any more messages from the cabbage patch?
1554: 49 HOT- 2 no. I sent them another message saying did you get our twenty two hundred uh, out of the hold thing through.
1554: 52 CAM- [sound of click similar to shoulder harness being fastened]
1554: 55 HOT- 1 *.
1554: 56 HOT- 2 you know the other mode about delays and just asked them if they got that.
1555: 04 HOT- 1 [sound of sigh] **.
1555: 04 HOT- 2 enough playing with that.
1555: 05 HOT- 1 where's the uh, where's the connecting gates? did we throw those away?
1555: 09 HOT- 2 uh, I didn't throw 'em away.
1555: 12 HOT- 1 how do you how do you get connecting gates?
1555: 14 HOT- 2 i- in- range one.
1555: 23 HOT- 1 and you haven't heard any more from this chick in, this controller chick huh?
1555: 26 HOT- 2 no, not a word. where'd it go anyway?.
1555: 30 HOT- 1 I don't know. I must have thrown it away.
1555: 32 CTR Kiwi Air seventeen, fly a heading zero seven zero. this is radar vectors for your descent.
1555: 37 KW17 * Air seventeen * zero five zero.
1555: 42 HOT- 2 we still got ice.
1555: 46 CAM- [sound similar to paper being torn from ACARS printer]
1555: 47 HOT- 1 here.
1555: 58 HOT- 2 get a message?
1555: 59 HOT- 1 you did.
1556: 01 HOT- 2 understand a definite maybe on twenty two, release time. [sound of "ha, ha"]
1556: 08 HOT- B [sound of beep similar to frequency change on VHF comm]
1556: 11 HOT- 1 I'll be right back. 'K, I'm a talk to the company.
1556: 14.7 CTR Eagle flight one eighty four, descend descend and maintain eight thousand?
1556: 15.8 RDO- 1 Chicago, do you copy forty, one eighty four?
1556: 20.1 AEC forty one eighty four, go ahead.
1556: 47.0 RDO- 1 yeah, we've already been talking to dispatch uh, on the ACARS but so they are aware of our delay I don't know if you guys got the word on that. we're on a hold out here uh, we got three, thirty two hundred pounds, thirty three hundred pounds of fuel. they're saying zero zero, for uh, EFC so in about another four or five minutes we'll find what the new word is. but what can you tell me about um, there's this guy concerned about his Frankfurt connection uh, do you know anything about that?
1556: 24 CAM- 5 traffic, traffic.
1556: 27.8 CTR Eagle flight one eighty four, descend and maintain eight thousand.
1556: 31.6 RDO- 2 down to eight thousand. Eagle flight one eighty four.
1556: 38.3 CAM- [wailing sound similar to "whooler" pitch trim movement]
1556: 44.9 CTR Eagle flight one eighty four uh, should be about ten minutes uh, till you're cleared in.
1556: 48.3 AEC uh, I can double check on that uh, yeah. just sent a message to dispatch to see if you were in a hold. copy thirty on the fuel and estimated out time on the hour. and, did you have that uh, Frankfurt flight number by any chance?
1556: 50.1 RDO- 2 thank you.
1556: 53.1 HOT- 2 they say ten more minutes.
1557: 01.5 CTR Kiwi Air seventeen, fly a heading of three six zero.
1557: 02.0 RDO- 1 um, no I sure don't but I pulled up connecting gates out of the ACARS and is says it's going out of K five if that helps you any at all.
1557: 05.0 KW17 Kiwi Air seventeen, heading three six zero.
1557: 07   [ sound of light tapping heard on first officer channel ]
1557: 08.8 AEC let me check.
1557: 16.3 HOT- 1 are we out of the hold?
1557: 17.3 HOT- 2 uh, no, we're just goin' to eight thousand.
1557: 19.4 HOT- 1 OK.
1557: 20.0 HOT- 2 and uh, ten more minutes she said ....
1557: 22.1 CAM- [sound of repeating beeps similar to overspeed warning starts and continues for 4.6 seconds]
1557: 23.3 HOT- 2 ... oop.
1557: 24.7 CTR Kiwi Air seventeen, descend and maintain six thousand.
1557: 26.2 HOT- 1 we, I knew we'd do that.
1557: 27.4 HOT- 2 I'm trying to keep it at one eighty.
1557: 28.2 KW17 Kiwi Air seventeen, eleven point five for six.
1557: 29.2 HOT- 2 [ramping repetitive thud sound]
1557: 28.9 HOT- B [wailing sound for 1.2 seconds similar to "whooler" pitch trim movement]
1557: 29.9 HOT- 1 oh.
1557: 31.2 HOT- B [wailing sound for 1.7 seconds similar to "whooler" pitch trim movement]
1557: 32.8 HOT- 2 oops, #.
1557: 33.0 CAM- [sound of three thumps followed by rattling]
1557: 33.5 CAM- [sound of three sets of repetitive rapid triple chirps similar to auto- pilot disconnect warning lasting 1.09 seconds]
1557: 33.8 HOT- 2 #.
1557: 35.2 CAM- [single horn similar to altitude alert signal]
1557: 35.6 CTR Kiwi Air seventeen, direct Chicago Heights, direct Midway.
1557: 36.9 HOT- ? OK
1557: 37.0 HOT- B [intermittent heavy irregular breathing starts and continues to end of recording]
1557: 39.0 KW17 direct the Heights direct Midway, Kiwi Air seventeen.
1557: 38.8   [repetitive thumping sound heard on first officers channel]
1557: 39.9 HOT- ? oh #.
1557: 42.4 HOT- 1 OK.
1557: 43.7 CAM- [single horn similar to altitude alert signal]
1557: 44.0 CAM- [sound of "growl" starts and continues to impact]
1557: 44.2 HOT- 1 alright man, ...
1557: 45.8 HOT- 1 OK, mellow it out.
1557: 45.8 CAM- [sound of repeating beeps similar to overspeed warning starts and continues to impact]
1557: 46.7 HOT- 2 OK.
1557: 47.1 HOT- 1 mellow it out.
1557: 47.7 HOT- 2 OK.
1557: 48.1 HOT- 1 auto- pilot's disengaged.
1557: 49.4 HOT- 2 OK.
1557: 52.8 HOT- 1 nice and easy.
1557: 54.9 CAM- 5 terrain, whoop whoop.
1557: 56.6 HOT- 2 aw **.
1557: 56.7 CAM- [loud crunching sound]
    END of RECORDING

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