A Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner operating as AVAir Flight 3378 crashes in Cary, North Carolina, killing 12.

The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in San Antonio, Texas.

AVAir Flight 3378 was a scheduled flight from Raleigh–Durham International Airport to Richmond International Airport operated by Air Virginia that crashed after takeoff from Raleigh-Durham International Airport late on the night of February 19, 1988. All 12 people on board were killed in the accident.

Cary is a town in Wake, Chatham, and Durham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh-most populous municipality in North Carolina, and the 145th-most populous in the United States. In 2023, the town's population had increased to 180,010.

February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 315 days remain until the end of the year.