This exceeded the manufacturer's recommended climb rate at altitudes above F元80. They set the autopilot to climb at 500 ft/min to FL410. The incident started when the pilots performed several non-standard maneuvers at 15,000 feet, including a pitch-up at 2.3g (23 m/s²) that induced a stall warning.

The pilots decided to test the limits of the CRJ, and join the '410 Club,' referring to pilots who pushed CRJs to their maximum approved altitude of Flight Level 410 (41,000 feet). The two pilots were exploiting the performance of the empty CRJ-200 on the ferry flight. This is the official version of events as determined by that investigation. The investigation into the accident focused mainly on information contained on the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. For this reason it was necessary to ferry the aircraft to MSP. Paul International Airport, where it would have been had it undertaken its originally scheduled flight. The aircraft involved in the accident was then required at Minneapolis-St. As do many airlines, Pinnacle had a spare aircraft available, which it used. Both crew members were killed.ĭue to urgent but routine maintenance, the aircraft was unavailable for a scheduled flight earlier in the day. It was an overnight ferry flight (with no passengers) from Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701 crashed on October 14, 2004, near Jefferson City, Missouri, United States.

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