Unofficial reports indicate that bad weather was the cause of the crash of a Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jet in thick fog near Kazakhstan's commercial capital of Almaty on Tuesday, killing all 22 on board.
The CRJ-200 commercial plane is not known as having a poor safety record. It entered into service in 1996. Production was halted in 2006 on slumping demand from airlines amid changing air transportation economics.
Montreal-based Bombardier is now focused on regional-jet production of its NextGen family of models in the 60-to-99-seat range.
The CRJ-200 evolved out of the CRJ-100, which went into service in 1992 and helped revolutionize the mid-haul airline passenger market.
The 100's design evolved from that of the Canadair Challenger 604 business jet.
Other major incidents involving the CRJ-200:
- 2011: 32 passengers and crew died when a CRJ-200 operated for the United Nations by Georgian flag carrier Airzena Georgian Airways crashed during a landing attempt in Congo’s capital Kinshasa.
- 2006: Comair flight 5191, a CRJ-200 in Lexington, Ky., crashed during takeoff and burst into flames, killing 49 people.
- 2004: An airline pilot and co-pilot died when their CRJ-200 crashed outside Jefferson City, Mo.
- 2004: 54 people were killed when a CRJ-200 jet operated by China Eastern Airlines en route to Shanghai plunged into an ice-covered lake in Inner Mongolia just after takeoff in the city of Baotou.