ON OCTOBER 14, 2004, PINNACLE FLIGHT 3701, a Northwest Airlink-branded Cana-dair Regional Jet, crashed near Jefferson City (Missouri) Memorial Airport on its way from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The mission was to reposition the airplane following a maintenance cancellation. Only the pilots were on board. Almost immediately after takeoff, pilot antics began. Passing through 450 feet, the first of three pitch-up maneuvers was performed, which set off both the stall warning stick shaker and stick pusher systems. During the climb, the captain and first officer switched seats. A second pitch-up maneuver was performed around 15,000 feet that resulted in a 2.3-G load and briefly pegged the rate of climb at 10,000 feet per minute. There were also left and right rudder inputs followed by a third pitch-up maneuver.
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