Buffalo Colgan Continental Airline Crash - 2/12 09

A commuter aircraft crashed as it was preparing to land in Buffalo, N.Y., killing 50 people, including the widow of a man killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, according to reports. Pilots say ice was all over the windshield and wings.

Witnesses heard the plane sputtering before it took a nose dive and plunged squarely through the roof of the house, its tail section visible through flames shooting at least 50 feet high.

The crash occurred in light snow and fog about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, February 12, as the 74-passenger, twin- plane operated by Colgan Air, Inc., as Continental Express flight 3407 from Newark, New Jersey, was only about eight kilometers from the end of Runway 23.

Moments before the crash, a "stick shaker" and "stick pusher" mechanism had activated to warn the pilot that the plane was about to lose aerodynamic lift, a condition called a stall. When the "stick pusher" engaged, it would have pointed the nose of the plane toward the ground to try to increase lift

The cause of the disaster remained under investigation, but other pilots were overheard around the same time complaining of ice building up on their wings as well, a hazard that has caused major crashes in the past. 

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