Eastern Air Lines Flight 212

Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Charleston Municipal Airport, South Carolina, to Chicago O'Hare, Illinois, with an intermediate stop in Charlotte, North Carolina. On September 11, 1974, the aircraft operating the flight, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashed during approach to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, killing 72 of the 82 people on board.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted an investigation and determined that pilot error was the primary cause of the crash. During the approach, the flight crews were engrossed by incessant and unnecessary conversations instead of monitoring their flight instruments and altitude, enabling the aircraft to descend way past the safe minima. The aircraft eventually crashed miles before the runway. The investigation resulted in the issuance of the sterile cockpit rule, which prohibited pilots from interactions irrelevant to the flight during critical phases, such as landing and takeoff.