An ASA EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 aboard including Sen. John Tower and astronaut Sonny Carter.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 was a regularly scheduled commuter flight from HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport to Glynco Jetport (since renamed Brunswick Golden Isles Airport) in Brunswick, Georgia on April 5, 1991. The flight, operated using a twin-turboprop Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, crashed just north of Brunswick while approaching the airport for landing. All 23 people aboard the plane were killed, including passengers NASA Astronaut Sonny Carter and former United States Senator John Tower. Four years later, another Embraer Brasilia of ASA crashed in the Georgia countryside in similar circumstances, with nine fatalities.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) was an American airline based in the A-Tech Center in College Park, Georgia, flying to 144 destinations as a Delta Connection carrier on behalf of Delta Air Lines via a code sharing agreement and, as of February 2010, commenced service as a United Express carrier on behalf of United Airlines via a separate code sharing agreement. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of SkyWest, Inc. ASA operated nearly 900 flights each day. Its main hub was located at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) which is also a hub for Delta. After a 2010 merger with ExpressJet, ASA adopted the ExpressJet name and branding in 2011.
In November 2011, ASA and ExpressJet received a single operating certificate from the FAA and in December 2011, all flights were then operated by ExpressJet on behalf of its major airline code sharing partners.