NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DCA19CA102
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
failure of the ground crew to maintain visual separation and avoid the holding aircraft.
Factual narrative
On March 10, 2019, at 0944 eastern daylight time, PSA Airlines flight 5366, a Bombardier CRJ-900, N569NN, collided with PSA Airlines flight 5141, a Bombardier CRJ-700, N530EA while pushing back from gate E31 at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (KCLT), Charlotte, North Carolina. There were no injuries the passengers and crew onboard either airplane, and both airplanes received substantial damage. Both airplanes were regularly scheduled passenger flights operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121. The CRJ-700 had pushed back from gate E14B and was waiting for taxi by spot 29W. The CRJ-900 requested push back from gate E31, and the north ramp controller initially instructed them to “10 and hold.” The push back was approved about 2 minutes later and the flight crew coordinated with ground crew. After pushing back about 30 feet, the tail of the CRJ-900 impacted the tail of the CRJ-700. After feeling the impact, the CRJ-900 crew aborted their engine start procedure and set the parking brake, while the CRJ-700 crew started their auxiliary power unit and shut down both engines after receiving damage reports from ATC and neighboring airplanes. An emergency evacuation was not performed on either aircraft. Post-accident examination revealed substantially damaged to the horizonal and vertical stabilizers and left elevator of the CRJ-900, and the horizontal stabilizer and left elevator of the CRJ-700. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Forgotten action/omission-Ground crew
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2019_DCA19CA102.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.