Air Illinois Flight 710

Air Illinois Flight 710 crashed due to an electrical problem near Pinckneyville, Illinois. All 10 passengers and crew were killed in the accident.

The flight flew from Chicago to Springfield, Illinois uneventfully, but when it touched down at Springfield Airport, the flight had been delayed by 45 minutes. At 20:20 local time, the aircraft took off from Springfield. Roughly 1.5 minutes after takeoff, the crew reported a 'slight electrical problem' and would keep air traffic control 'advised'. The NTSB concluded that the first officer then mistakenly isolated the right generator instead of the left - as the right generator had a history of maintenance issues. Twelve minutes after takeoff, the first officer reported to the captain that the left generator was 'totally dead' and that the right generator was producing voltage but wouldn't stay online. Roughly 20 minutes after takeoff, the crew shut off excess lights in the cabin, but had failed to reduce overall electrical load on the aircraft's battery. Ultimately the battery was depleted, resulting in the failure of the aircraft's flight instruments, and communication and navigation radios. At 20:52, the captain decided to descend to 2,400 feet, from there the aircraft slowly descended into a hilly pasture area as the co-pilot used a flashlight to determine the location of the plane. The crew may have attempted a forced landing before the aircraft crashed, or a disoriented pilot mistook strip lighting at a mine for approach lights at Carbondale Airport. All ten on board perished.

Wikipedia