Continental Express Flight 2574

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Continental Express Flight 2574 was a domestic passenger flight from Laredo, Texas to Houston, Texas, operated by Britt Airways for Continental Express. On September 11, 1991, the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia (tail number N33701) crashed while descending for landing near Eagle Lake, Texas, about 60 miles west of Houston. All 14 people on board died (11 passengers and 3 crew).

Investigators found that screws had been removed from the left horizontal stabilizer during maintenance the night before and were not reinstalled. This caused the stabilizer leading edge to detach, the aircraft to break up in flight, and the crash to occur. The NTSB concluded that maintenance and inspection failures, along with insufficient FAA oversight, were the main causes. The crew consisted of Captain Brad Patridge, First Officer Clint Rodosovich, and Flight Attendant Nancy Reed.