AA5501 - Incident: PSA CRJ7 at Washington on Aug 17th 2026

A PSA Airlines Canadair CRJ-700 on behalf of American Airlines, registration N530EA performing flight AA-5501 from Washington National,DC to Albany,NY (USA) with 63 passengers and 4 crew, was climbing through about FL240 out of Washington when the crew declared emergency, initiated an emergency descent to 10,000 feet and reported smoke in the cockpit. The aircraft diverted to Middletown,PA (USA) for a safe landing on runway 31 about 35 minutes after stopping the climb.

The FAA reported: "AIRCRAFT DECLARED AN EMERGENCY DUE TO PRESSURIZATION AND SMOKE IN THE COCKPIT, DIVERTED TO MDT, HARRISBURG, PA."

A replacement CRJ-900 registration N649NN reached Albany with a delay of about 16.5 hours.

The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Middletown/Harrisburgh about 17 hours after landing.