Two American Eagle flights were forced to return to Miami International Airport on Sunday after encountering similar mechanical issues shortly after takeoff.
Both planes left the airport within hours of each other Sunday afternoon.
Passengers on board the first plane, an American Eagle Flight 3422 operated by Envoy Air, were traveling to McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tennessee, when the pilot had to loop back around Sunday afternoon, an American Airlines spokesman said.
The Embraer ERJ-145 jet returned to MIA at 5:42 p.m., and passengers were moved to a different flight, the airline said.
Passengers on board the first plane, an American Eagle 3422, were traveling to McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tennessee, when the pilot had to turn back Sunday afternoon, said an American Airlines spokesperson. Above, the plane’s diverted route is shown in green. Screenshot of Flight Aware website
Twelve minutes later, another American Eagle flight also operated by Envoy Air took off for Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport near Greer, South Carolina.
Flight 3407 of the American Airlines subsidiary was in the air for about 40 minutes before the Embraer jet had to return for an emergency landing at MIA shortly after 6 p.m., according to an airport spokesman. It departed again at 8 p.m.
The Envoy Air flight number 3407, was traveling to Greenville/Spartanburg International Airport near Greer, South Carolina, when it had to divert back to Miami International Airport. The plane’s diverted route is shown in green. Screenshot of Flight Aware website
Both planes had “similar” mechanical issues, he said, and directed the Miami Herald to American Airlines for more information.
“We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans, and we are sorry for the trouble this caused,” American Airlines said in a statement.
The airline did not immediately respond to questions relating to the mechanical problem.
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription