On February 6 , 1996 , Birgenair Flight 301 , a 757 jet flying from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic , crashed into the Atlantic Ocean . All 13 crew members and 176 passengers were killed . A key part of the accident was a blocked pitot tube . Although the tubes were never recovered from the ocean floor , it was discovered that the plane had been sitting on the tarmac for two days with uncovered pitot tubes . Investigators believe a black and yellow mud dauber got into the tube and built its cylindrical nest inside , causing faulty air speed readings that were a large part of the crash . The main and primary cause of the crash however , was pilot error due to the flight crew 's improper response to inaccurate airspeed as well as the stick-shaker stall warning
Birgenair Flight 301
Birgenair Flight 301
Mud dauber