PSA Airlines involved in deadly DC plane crash has deep roots in aviation history

PSA Airlines with its decades of aviation history, including in Charlotte, is now linked to one of the deadlier plane crashes in U.S. history.

The American Airlines subsidiary said Wednesday it will move its headquarters and about 400 workers from Dayton, Ohio, to Charlotte next year. Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a hub for American Airlines.

But just hours after PSA Airlines announced its plans, one of its passenger jets under its American Eagle brand collided midair with a military helicopter over Washington, D.C. All 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the airplane and three Army soldiers on the Black Hawk died.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash.

PSA’s captain and first officer on the plane had six and two years experience with the airline respectively, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said Thursday. The four crew members, including two flight attendants, were based in Charlotte.

A brief history of PSA Airlines

PSA Airlines’ roots in Ohio go back to 1985 when it established its headquarters in Dayton, according to the Montgomery County Community & Economic Development website. PSA Airlines was owned by Piedmont Airlines.

PSA Airlines actually started off as Vee Neal Airlines in 1979, operating a single Cessna 402 between Latrobe and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, according to industry publication Aerotime. Piedmont changed the name to Jetstream International Airlines in 1983.

Piedmont merged with US Airways in 1989. A few years later in 1995, USAir changed the name to PSA to protect its Pacific Southwest Airlines brand that had long since been absorbed into the mainline, according to Aerotime.

In 2013, USAir merged with American Airlines.

In 2016, PSA expanded its Dayton facilities, adding a 77,000-square-foot maintenance hangar near its 40,000-square-foot operations control center at the Dayton International Airport, according to the county economic group. PSA and American Airlines signed a 20-year lease with the city of Dayton.

Emergency landings tied to CLT

PSA Airlines has had several incidents with ties to Charlotte:

▪ In 2017, an American Eagle plane headed to Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Mississippi with 44 passengers and four crew members struck a deer during its takeoff roll. The flight crew declared an emergency. Passengers were evacuated on the runway.

▪ In January 2021, PSA Airlines canceled about 230 flights systemwide — including 182 departures from Charlotte and one departure from Raleigh-Durham “out of an abundance of caution” to complete “a necessary, standard inspection on the nose gear door.”

▪ In June 2022, a PSA Airlines’ American Eagle flight was forced to stop on the taxiway at Charlotte Douglas International Airport because of a cabin odor. Passengers were deplaned and boarded another aircraft to Melbourne, Florida. The twin-engine Canadair Regional jet (CRJ9) arrived from Birmingham, Alabama.

▪ In August 2023, PSA Airlines’ American Eagle Flight 5616 departed CLT for Burlington Airport in Vermont when the plane made a return emergency landing “due to a possible mechanical issue.” No injuries were reported.

▪ Last February, PSA Airlines Flight 5320 traveling to Charlotte from Akron, Ohio, was diverted to Cincinnati after “a possible maintenance issue” nearly 90 minutes into the flight, The Charlotte Observer reported. More than an hour later, the CRJ700 departed Cincinnati and completed the trip to Charlotte, arriving an hour and 38 minutes later than planned. No injuries were reported.

PSA Airlines in Charlotte

PSA serves about 21,000 customers a day into and out of CLT, according to the company.

The airlines operates more than 750 daily departures, including over 180 out of CLT.

The airline serves American’s American Eagle regional network, directly supporting American Airlines hubs in Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 4:25 PM with the headline "PSA Airlines involved in deadly DC plane crash has deep roots in aviation history."

Chase Jordan

The Charlotte Observer

Chase Jordan is a business reporter for The Charlotte Observer, and has nearly a decade of experience covering news in North Carolina. Prior to joining the Observer, he was a growth and development reporter for the Wilmington StarNews. The Kansas City native is a graduate of Bethune-Cookman University.