Date: 2/26/2009
By KATIE OYAN
Associated Press Writer
DENVER (AP) — Four passengers on a Continental Airlines jet that veered off a Denver runway in December have filed suit against the jet’s maker.
The lawsuits filed in federal court in Denver allege that Boeing Co. negligently designed and manufactured certain parts of the plane, including its “directional control mechanisms.”
The complaints contend the defective parts made it hard for the pilots to maintain runway heading while taking off in high crosswinds.
Boeing did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday night.
On Dec. 20, the Houston-bound Boeing 737 veered sharply off the Denver International Airport runway and into a ravine, where it caught fire. The flight was carrying 110 passengers and five crew members; 38 people were injured.
Gusts of up to 37 mph were reported at the airport on the day of the accident, and aviation safety experts have said strong crosswinds likely were a factor in the crash.
The four passengers say they suffered emotional and physical injuries and loss of personal property in the wreck. They’re seeking compensatory and other damages.
At least eight other passengers on flight 1404 are suing Continental. They claim the airline failed to properly operate or control the aircraft as it veered off the runway.
Continental has said it is prepared to defend the company’s actions and those of the plane’s crew.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Cyclical menace of ice revisits aviation
Date: 2/14/2009
By LARRY NEUMEISTER and ADAM GOLDMAN
Associated Press Writers
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Every time ice is suspected of bringing down a plane, the volume rises on how best to protect aircraft from the all-too-common and all-too-disastrous phenomenon. And each time, the conversation fades before significant changes are made.
Authorities caution that they’re still investigating why Continental Connection Flight 3407 dropped out of the sky onto a house Thursday night, killing 50 people. But recordings show the crew was concerned about ice buildup on the windshield and wings shortly before the crash.
With planes carefully designed for aerodynamics, a buildup of ice can affect their lift and handling. A crash blamed on ice killed 68 people in 1994 in Indiana, another killed 29 people in 1997 in Detroit.
Investigators know the Buffalo plane’s deicing system was turned on and say it appeared to be working. What they don’t know is when it was activated or how much time the pilot had to react.
Planes are deiced before takeoff to remove any ice that collects beforehand. Sometimes, they must be deiced in the air as they descend and encounter the necessary mix of temperature and precipitation for ice to form.
If a midair deicing system isn’t working, guidelines from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation say pilots can take a number of steps, including changing speed, pulling the nose up or down, or trying a 180-degree turn to rid the plane of ice.
It’s not known what steps the pilot in Thursday’s crash might have taken if he was experiencing ice buildup. But the plane had been approaching the airport, and investigators said Saturday that it apparently was pointing in the opposite direction when it crashed.
Pilots of turboprop planes like those in the Buffalo-area crash must turn on their deicing equipment when they notice buildup. The NTSB wants to go a step further and require them to turn the equipment on when conditions are right for icing.
Then there’s talk of an automated ice-detection system like those used in jetliners — but some automated systems can cost upward of $500,000, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The commuter plane that crashed near Buffalo, a Q400 Bombardier, was equipped with rubber bladders that can be inflated by the pilot to crack ice on the nose, wings and tail; the wind then sweeps away the cracked ice.
Many procedures and devices can help ensure icing is not dangerous, and pilots need to keep up on the latest developments, Chealander said.
“You can design everything in the world, but if the human being doesn’t use all those things constantly and focus on them constantly, then you can have tragic consequences,” he said.
“I’m not trying to draw any conclusions about this accident, I’m just saying in general, we can never let up our focus on all these types of things,” he added.
Once activated on the newer model that the Buffalo pilot flew, the bladders inflate and deflate every 24 seconds automatically, a system that NTSB Vice Chairman Steve Chealander called “very sophisticated” at a Saturday briefing.
Not mentioning the Federal Aviation Administration by name, Chealander said the NTSB’s recommendations to stiffen rules on deicing have gone unheeded for years.
“We don’t like the progress that’s taken place right now,” Chealander told The Associated Press on Saturday.
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said her agency has not ignored the NTSB recommendations and has issued more than 100 airworthiness directives since 1994 that address icing.
“Their concern is this is not happening quickly enough,” Brown said. “As with any safety improvement that is significant, we have to go through rulemaking to get there. It takes time.”
In 2007, the FAA proposed requiring better ways to detect ice buildup or let pilots know about conditions that could cause ice buildup — in future airplane designs.
It also proposed methods that could help automatically detect ice or potentially icy weather and cue the pilot to turn on deicers. The rule is in the final stages of executive review.
In big jets, crews use heat from the engines to warm the wings and prevent ice buildup. But smaller commuter planes like the 74-seater that crashed Thursday had no such option.
“The big planes are using it off their jet engines,” said Justin T. Green, an aviation attorney in New York who has represented the families of victims of air disasters.
The threat of icing looms so commonly that Robert Benzon, the chief investigator of the January splashdown in the Hudson River of a US Airways jetliner, described it as a cyclical menace during an interview last month.
“You do a rash of wing icing accidents,” he said. “We rattle our sword. The industry gets its act together and then as time passes, things start to slip and 10 years down the road you get another rash of this type of accident. It’s a difficult thing to overcome.”
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Adam Goldman in New York and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, Belgium.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By LARRY NEUMEISTER and ADAM GOLDMAN
Associated Press Writers
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Every time ice is suspected of bringing down a plane, the volume rises on how best to protect aircraft from the all-too-common and all-too-disastrous phenomenon. And each time, the conversation fades before significant changes are made.
Authorities caution that they’re still investigating why Continental Connection Flight 3407 dropped out of the sky onto a house Thursday night, killing 50 people. But recordings show the crew was concerned about ice buildup on the windshield and wings shortly before the crash.
With planes carefully designed for aerodynamics, a buildup of ice can affect their lift and handling. A crash blamed on ice killed 68 people in 1994 in Indiana, another killed 29 people in 1997 in Detroit.
Investigators know the Buffalo plane’s deicing system was turned on and say it appeared to be working. What they don’t know is when it was activated or how much time the pilot had to react.
Planes are deiced before takeoff to remove any ice that collects beforehand. Sometimes, they must be deiced in the air as they descend and encounter the necessary mix of temperature and precipitation for ice to form.
If a midair deicing system isn’t working, guidelines from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation say pilots can take a number of steps, including changing speed, pulling the nose up or down, or trying a 180-degree turn to rid the plane of ice.
It’s not known what steps the pilot in Thursday’s crash might have taken if he was experiencing ice buildup. But the plane had been approaching the airport, and investigators said Saturday that it apparently was pointing in the opposite direction when it crashed.
Pilots of turboprop planes like those in the Buffalo-area crash must turn on their deicing equipment when they notice buildup. The NTSB wants to go a step further and require them to turn the equipment on when conditions are right for icing.
Then there’s talk of an automated ice-detection system like those used in jetliners — but some automated systems can cost upward of $500,000, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The commuter plane that crashed near Buffalo, a Q400 Bombardier, was equipped with rubber bladders that can be inflated by the pilot to crack ice on the nose, wings and tail; the wind then sweeps away the cracked ice.
Many procedures and devices can help ensure icing is not dangerous, and pilots need to keep up on the latest developments, Chealander said.
“You can design everything in the world, but if the human being doesn’t use all those things constantly and focus on them constantly, then you can have tragic consequences,” he said.
“I’m not trying to draw any conclusions about this accident, I’m just saying in general, we can never let up our focus on all these types of things,” he added.
Once activated on the newer model that the Buffalo pilot flew, the bladders inflate and deflate every 24 seconds automatically, a system that NTSB Vice Chairman Steve Chealander called “very sophisticated” at a Saturday briefing.
Not mentioning the Federal Aviation Administration by name, Chealander said the NTSB’s recommendations to stiffen rules on deicing have gone unheeded for years.
“We don’t like the progress that’s taken place right now,” Chealander told The Associated Press on Saturday.
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said her agency has not ignored the NTSB recommendations and has issued more than 100 airworthiness directives since 1994 that address icing.
“Their concern is this is not happening quickly enough,” Brown said. “As with any safety improvement that is significant, we have to go through rulemaking to get there. It takes time.”
In 2007, the FAA proposed requiring better ways to detect ice buildup or let pilots know about conditions that could cause ice buildup — in future airplane designs.
It also proposed methods that could help automatically detect ice or potentially icy weather and cue the pilot to turn on deicers. The rule is in the final stages of executive review.
In big jets, crews use heat from the engines to warm the wings and prevent ice buildup. But smaller commuter planes like the 74-seater that crashed Thursday had no such option.
“The big planes are using it off their jet engines,” said Justin T. Green, an aviation attorney in New York who has represented the families of victims of air disasters.
The threat of icing looms so commonly that Robert Benzon, the chief investigator of the January splashdown in the Hudson River of a US Airways jetliner, described it as a cyclical menace during an interview last month.
“You do a rash of wing icing accidents,” he said. “We rattle our sword. The industry gets its act together and then as time passes, things start to slip and 10 years down the road you get another rash of this type of accident. It’s a difficult thing to overcome.”
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Adam Goldman in New York and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, Belgium.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Crashed commuter plane was new, had good record
Date: 2/13/2009
By MICHAEL HILL
Associated Press Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The commuter plane that crashed into a home near Buffalo, N.Y., was new and had a clean safety record, officials said Friday, leaving investigators few immediate clues about why it suddenly plunged just minutes before its planned landing, killing 50 people.
The twin turboprop aircraft — Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J. — was coming in for a landing when it crashed Thursday night about five miles short of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
The flight was operated by Colgan Air Inc., based in Manassas, Va. Colgan is owned by Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft, registered last April, was delayed almost two hours before departing Newark, N.J.
But Philip H. Trenary, who heads Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and operator Colgan Air, said at a news conference Friday that he didn’t know why there was a delay.
Trenary said the plane was a “next-generation turbo prop, very modern.”
“It’s an aircraft that’s had flawless service,” he said. “So no, there have been no indications of problems with the aircraft.”
Bombardier spokesman Marc Duchesne said the plane was put into service very recently and is only a few months old.
Though skies were foggy and winds were 17 mph, there was no indication of anything out of the ordinary and no mayday call from the pilot, according to a recording of air traffic control radio messages captured by the Web site LiveATC.net.
William Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, said the near vertical drop of the plane suggests a sudden loss of control. One witness said the plane “basically dove” onto house.
Voss said possible causes include icing or a mechanical failure, such as wing flaps deploying out of synch to different positions or the two engines putting out uneven thrust. Similarly, Don Maciejewski, a former military pilot and aviation attorney, said the sharp drop coupled with a witness who reported hearing a change in engine noise could indicate engine failure or ice buildup on the tail.
“There are a limited number of things that can cause an aircraft to lose control,” Voss said.
Wind gusts hit 65 mph on Thursday and the Federal Aviation Administration said flights were delayed by nearly four hours at Newark Liberty International Airport.
Trenary also would not speculate on if weather played a role in the crash, which killed all 49 people on board and one on the ground.
The Q400 is popular for intermediate flights, especially after recent spikes in aviation fuel prices.
The Q400 has not been involved in any fatal crashes in the United States, though it has had problems with its landing gear.
Scandinavian Airlines grounded its 27 Dash 8 Q400 aircraft in 2007 after problems with landing gear caused three crash landings in seven weeks in Europe. No one was seriously hurt in those accidents.
Voss said it’s “extremely unlikely” landing gear played a role in the crash five miles from the airport.
Bombardier said it has dispatched a product safety and technical team to the site to assist the National Transportation Safety Board with their investigation.
__
Associated Press Writer Ula Ilnytzky contributed to this report from New York City.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By MICHAEL HILL
Associated Press Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The commuter plane that crashed into a home near Buffalo, N.Y., was new and had a clean safety record, officials said Friday, leaving investigators few immediate clues about why it suddenly plunged just minutes before its planned landing, killing 50 people.
The twin turboprop aircraft — Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J. — was coming in for a landing when it crashed Thursday night about five miles short of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
The flight was operated by Colgan Air Inc., based in Manassas, Va. Colgan is owned by Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft, registered last April, was delayed almost two hours before departing Newark, N.J.
But Philip H. Trenary, who heads Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and operator Colgan Air, said at a news conference Friday that he didn’t know why there was a delay.
Trenary said the plane was a “next-generation turbo prop, very modern.”
“It’s an aircraft that’s had flawless service,” he said. “So no, there have been no indications of problems with the aircraft.”
Bombardier spokesman Marc Duchesne said the plane was put into service very recently and is only a few months old.
Though skies were foggy and winds were 17 mph, there was no indication of anything out of the ordinary and no mayday call from the pilot, according to a recording of air traffic control radio messages captured by the Web site LiveATC.net.
William Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, said the near vertical drop of the plane suggests a sudden loss of control. One witness said the plane “basically dove” onto house.
Voss said possible causes include icing or a mechanical failure, such as wing flaps deploying out of synch to different positions or the two engines putting out uneven thrust. Similarly, Don Maciejewski, a former military pilot and aviation attorney, said the sharp drop coupled with a witness who reported hearing a change in engine noise could indicate engine failure or ice buildup on the tail.
“There are a limited number of things that can cause an aircraft to lose control,” Voss said.
Wind gusts hit 65 mph on Thursday and the Federal Aviation Administration said flights were delayed by nearly four hours at Newark Liberty International Airport.
Trenary also would not speculate on if weather played a role in the crash, which killed all 49 people on board and one on the ground.
The Q400 is popular for intermediate flights, especially after recent spikes in aviation fuel prices.
The Q400 has not been involved in any fatal crashes in the United States, though it has had problems with its landing gear.
Scandinavian Airlines grounded its 27 Dash 8 Q400 aircraft in 2007 after problems with landing gear caused three crash landings in seven weeks in Europe. No one was seriously hurt in those accidents.
Voss said it’s “extremely unlikely” landing gear played a role in the crash five miles from the airport.
Bombardier said it has dispatched a product safety and technical team to the site to assist the National Transportation Safety Board with their investigation.
__
Associated Press Writer Ula Ilnytzky contributed to this report from New York City.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Sept. 11 widow killed in Buffalo plane crash
Date: 2/13/2009
By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the victims of the Buffalo commuter plane crash, Beverly Eckert, was a Sept. 11 widow who put her never-ending grief to good use to make the country safer.
President Barack Obama, speaking in the White House’s East Room, said Eckert “was an inspiration to me and to so many others, and I pray that her family finds peace and comfort in the hard days ahead.”
A week before her death, Eckert met with Obama at the White House as part of a group of 9/11 families and relatives of those killed in the bombing of the USS Cole, discussing how the new administration would handle terror suspects.
Eckert was flying to Buffalo Thursday night to celebrate what would have been her husband Sean Rooney’s 58th birthday.
When he died in the World Trade Center, she became one of the most visible, tearful faces in the aftermath of the terror attacks.
Carol Ashley, whose daughter died at the World Trade Center, said the grim details of Eckert’s death are particularly painful to Eckert’s friends among 9/11 families.
“The fact that it was a plane crash, it was fire, it was reminiscent of 9/11 that way, that’s just very difficult,” said Ashley, a retired schoolteacher from Long Island.
She carried that grief to Congress as she tried to make the government do a better job protecting its citizens from terrorism.
Her husband worked at Aon Corp., a risk management firm, at the 98th floor of the south tower.
Eckert would cry when she told the story about how her husband — who was her high school sweetheart — called her on the morning of the attacks, and told her he loved her just before there was a loud explosion and nothing more.
She became part of a small group of Sept. 11 widows, mothers, and children who became amateur lobbyists, ultimately forcing lawmakers in 2004 to pass sweeping reforms of the U.S. intelligence apparatus.
They spent months walking the halls of Congress. All of the women were grieving, but Eckert seemed unable or uninterested in holding back her tears.
When it was over and they’d won passage of the intelligence reform law, Eckert vowed to quit her high-profile role “cold turkey.” All she wanted, she said, was to go home, buy groceries, and return to something like a regular life.
“I did all of this for Sean’s memory, I did it for him,” she said, crying again. “There is a euphoria in knowing that we reached the top of the hill. … I just wanted Sean to come home from work. Maybe now, someone else’s Sean will get to come home.”
Eckert was flying to her hometown Thursday night when the plane crashed on approach to the Buffalo airport.
After the 2001 attacks, she co-chaired the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, a group of activists devoted to exposing government failures that led up to the 2001 attacks, and fixing them.
She pushed for a 9/11 Commission. She pushed the Bush administration to provide more information to the commission. And when the commission’s work was over, she pushed Congress to adopt their recommendations.
For Eckert, the public role was not easy.
One night after a long day at Congress, she found herself in the New York City train station, without a connecting train to her home in Stamford, Connecticut.
“We slept in the train station. We had no place else to go. That’s when you look at yourself and say, ‘What am I doing? How can we possibly get this done?’.”
As Congress hemmed and hawed, Eckert vowed to sleep there, too, if it would get the law passed.
After the law passed, Eckert turned her energies to Habitat for Humanity, helping build homes for low-income families.
“I’m in shock, I just can’t believe it,” said Carie Lemack, whose mother died Sept. 11 on one of the hijacked planes. “Beverly had a can-do attitude about everything, and she never gave up.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the victims of the Buffalo commuter plane crash, Beverly Eckert, was a Sept. 11 widow who put her never-ending grief to good use to make the country safer.
President Barack Obama, speaking in the White House’s East Room, said Eckert “was an inspiration to me and to so many others, and I pray that her family finds peace and comfort in the hard days ahead.”
A week before her death, Eckert met with Obama at the White House as part of a group of 9/11 families and relatives of those killed in the bombing of the USS Cole, discussing how the new administration would handle terror suspects.
Eckert was flying to Buffalo Thursday night to celebrate what would have been her husband Sean Rooney’s 58th birthday.
When he died in the World Trade Center, she became one of the most visible, tearful faces in the aftermath of the terror attacks.
Carol Ashley, whose daughter died at the World Trade Center, said the grim details of Eckert’s death are particularly painful to Eckert’s friends among 9/11 families.
“The fact that it was a plane crash, it was fire, it was reminiscent of 9/11 that way, that’s just very difficult,” said Ashley, a retired schoolteacher from Long Island.
She carried that grief to Congress as she tried to make the government do a better job protecting its citizens from terrorism.
Her husband worked at Aon Corp., a risk management firm, at the 98th floor of the south tower.
Eckert would cry when she told the story about how her husband — who was her high school sweetheart — called her on the morning of the attacks, and told her he loved her just before there was a loud explosion and nothing more.
She became part of a small group of Sept. 11 widows, mothers, and children who became amateur lobbyists, ultimately forcing lawmakers in 2004 to pass sweeping reforms of the U.S. intelligence apparatus.
They spent months walking the halls of Congress. All of the women were grieving, but Eckert seemed unable or uninterested in holding back her tears.
When it was over and they’d won passage of the intelligence reform law, Eckert vowed to quit her high-profile role “cold turkey.” All she wanted, she said, was to go home, buy groceries, and return to something like a regular life.
“I did all of this for Sean’s memory, I did it for him,” she said, crying again. “There is a euphoria in knowing that we reached the top of the hill. … I just wanted Sean to come home from work. Maybe now, someone else’s Sean will get to come home.”
Eckert was flying to her hometown Thursday night when the plane crashed on approach to the Buffalo airport.
After the 2001 attacks, she co-chaired the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, a group of activists devoted to exposing government failures that led up to the 2001 attacks, and fixing them.
She pushed for a 9/11 Commission. She pushed the Bush administration to provide more information to the commission. And when the commission’s work was over, she pushed Congress to adopt their recommendations.
For Eckert, the public role was not easy.
One night after a long day at Congress, she found herself in the New York City train station, without a connecting train to her home in Stamford, Connecticut.
“We slept in the train station. We had no place else to go. That’s when you look at yourself and say, ‘What am I doing? How can we possibly get this done?’.”
As Congress hemmed and hawed, Eckert vowed to sleep there, too, if it would get the law passed.
After the law passed, Eckert turned her energies to Habitat for Humanity, helping build homes for low-income families.
“I’m in shock, I just can’t believe it,” said Carie Lemack, whose mother died Sept. 11 on one of the hijacked planes. “Beverly had a can-do attitude about everything, and she never gave up.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Fiery plane crash in upstate NY kills 50
Date: 2/13/2009
By JOHN WAWROW
Associated Press Writer
CLARENCE, N.Y. (AP) — A Continental commuter plane coming in for a landing nose-dived into a house in suburban Buffalo, sparking a fiery explosion that killed all 49 people aboard and a person in the home. It was the nation’s first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in 2½ years.
Witnesses heard the twin turboprop aircraft sputtering before it went down in light snow and fog around 10:20 p.m. Thursday about five miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J., came in squarely through the roof of the house, its tail section visible through flames shooting at least 50 feet high.
“The whole sky was lit up orange,” said Bob Dworak, who lives less than a mile away. “All the sudden, there was a big bang, and the house shook.”
Two others in the house escaped with minor injuries. The plane was carrying a four-member crew and an off-duty pilot. Among the 44 passengers killed was a woman whose husband died in the World Trade Center attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
By morning, with the rubble still smoking, the task of retrieving remains had not yet begun.
Erie County Emergency Coordinator David Bissonette said it appeared the plane “dove directly on top of the house.”
“It was a direct hit,” Bissonette said. “It’s remarkable that it only took one house. As devastating as that is, it could have wiped out the entire neighborhood.”
President Barack Obama voiced condolences, saying “our hearts go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones.”
No mayday call came from the pilot before the crash, according to a recording of air traffic control’s radio messages captured by the Web site LiveATC.net. Neither the controller nor the pilot showed concern that anything was out of the ordinary as the airplane was asked to fly at 2,300 feet. Airport officials said the plane simply fell off the radar screen.
After the crash, at least two pilots were heard on air traffic control messages saying they had been picking up ice on their wings.
“We’ve been getting ice since 20 miles south of the airport,” one said.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of investigators to Buffalo. The Department of Homeland Security said there was no indication of terrorism.
While residents of the neighborhood were used to planes rumbling overhead, witnesses said it sounded louder than usual, sputtered and made odd noises.
David Luce said he and his wife were working on their computers when they heard the plane come in low.
“It didn’t sound normal,” he said. “We heard it for a few seconds, then it stopped, then a couple of seconds later was this tremendous explosion.”
Dworak drove to the site, and “all we were seeing was 50 to 100 foot flames and a pile of rubble on the ground. It looked like the house just got destroyed the instant it got hit.”
One person in the home was killed, and two others inside, Karen Wielinski, 57, and her 22-year-old daughter, Jill, were able to escape with minor injuries. Twelve homes were evacuated.
The plane was carrying 5,000 pounds of fuel and apparently exploded on impact, Erie County Executive Chris Collins said.
Firefighters got as close to the plane as they could, he said. “They were shouting out to see if there were any survivors on the plane. Truly a very heroic effort, but there were no survivors.”
It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner took off from a Lexington, Ky., runway that was too short.
The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft was operated by Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air.
About 30 relatives and others who arrived at the airport in the overnight hours were escorted into a private area and then taken by bus to a senior citizens center in the neighboring town of Cheektowaga, where counselors and representatives from Continental waited to help.
“At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air’s accident response team are being mobilized and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them,” the statement said.
“Continental extends its deepest sympathy to the family members and loved ones of those involved in this accident,” Continental chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the family members and loved ones of those involved in the flight 3407 tragedy.”
Chris Kausner, believing his sister was on the plane, rushed to a hastily established command center after calling his vacationing mother in Florida to break the news.
“To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I’ve never heard before. So not good, not good,” he told reporters.
The 9/11 widow on board was identified as Beverly Eckert. She was heading to Buffalo for a celebration of what would have been her husband’s 58th birthday, said Mary Fetchet, a 9/11 family activist.
Airline officials identified the crew as Capt. Marvin Renslow, pilot; first officer Rebecca Shaw and flight attendants Matilda Quintero and Donna Prisco. The off-duty crew member was Capt. Joseph Zuffoletto.
Clarence is a growing eastern suburb of Buffalo, largely residential but with rural stretches. The crash site is a street of closely spaced, older, single-family homes that back up to a wooded area.
The crash came less than a month after a US Airways pilot guided his crippled plane to a landing in the Hudson River off Manhattan, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard. Birds had apparently disabled both its engines.
On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people.
Continental’s release said relatives and friends of those on Flight 3407 who wanted to give or receive information about those on board could telephone a special family assistance number, 1-800-621-3263.
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, Linda Franklin in Dallas, Daniel Yee in Atlanta, Ron Powers in Washington, and Cristian Salazar and Jennifer Peltz in New York.
___
On the Net:
Audio of air traffic control: http://sn.im/bt1z3
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By JOHN WAWROW
Associated Press Writer
CLARENCE, N.Y. (AP) — A Continental commuter plane coming in for a landing nose-dived into a house in suburban Buffalo, sparking a fiery explosion that killed all 49 people aboard and a person in the home. It was the nation’s first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in 2½ years.
Witnesses heard the twin turboprop aircraft sputtering before it went down in light snow and fog around 10:20 p.m. Thursday about five miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J., came in squarely through the roof of the house, its tail section visible through flames shooting at least 50 feet high.
“The whole sky was lit up orange,” said Bob Dworak, who lives less than a mile away. “All the sudden, there was a big bang, and the house shook.”
Two others in the house escaped with minor injuries. The plane was carrying a four-member crew and an off-duty pilot. Among the 44 passengers killed was a woman whose husband died in the World Trade Center attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
By morning, with the rubble still smoking, the task of retrieving remains had not yet begun.
Erie County Emergency Coordinator David Bissonette said it appeared the plane “dove directly on top of the house.”
“It was a direct hit,” Bissonette said. “It’s remarkable that it only took one house. As devastating as that is, it could have wiped out the entire neighborhood.”
President Barack Obama voiced condolences, saying “our hearts go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones.”
No mayday call came from the pilot before the crash, according to a recording of air traffic control’s radio messages captured by the Web site LiveATC.net. Neither the controller nor the pilot showed concern that anything was out of the ordinary as the airplane was asked to fly at 2,300 feet. Airport officials said the plane simply fell off the radar screen.
After the crash, at least two pilots were heard on air traffic control messages saying they had been picking up ice on their wings.
“We’ve been getting ice since 20 miles south of the airport,” one said.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of investigators to Buffalo. The Department of Homeland Security said there was no indication of terrorism.
While residents of the neighborhood were used to planes rumbling overhead, witnesses said it sounded louder than usual, sputtered and made odd noises.
David Luce said he and his wife were working on their computers when they heard the plane come in low.
“It didn’t sound normal,” he said. “We heard it for a few seconds, then it stopped, then a couple of seconds later was this tremendous explosion.”
Dworak drove to the site, and “all we were seeing was 50 to 100 foot flames and a pile of rubble on the ground. It looked like the house just got destroyed the instant it got hit.”
One person in the home was killed, and two others inside, Karen Wielinski, 57, and her 22-year-old daughter, Jill, were able to escape with minor injuries. Twelve homes were evacuated.
The plane was carrying 5,000 pounds of fuel and apparently exploded on impact, Erie County Executive Chris Collins said.
Firefighters got as close to the plane as they could, he said. “They were shouting out to see if there were any survivors on the plane. Truly a very heroic effort, but there were no survivors.”
It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner took off from a Lexington, Ky., runway that was too short.
The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft was operated by Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air.
About 30 relatives and others who arrived at the airport in the overnight hours were escorted into a private area and then taken by bus to a senior citizens center in the neighboring town of Cheektowaga, where counselors and representatives from Continental waited to help.
“At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air’s accident response team are being mobilized and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them,” the statement said.
“Continental extends its deepest sympathy to the family members and loved ones of those involved in this accident,” Continental chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the family members and loved ones of those involved in the flight 3407 tragedy.”
Chris Kausner, believing his sister was on the plane, rushed to a hastily established command center after calling his vacationing mother in Florida to break the news.
“To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I’ve never heard before. So not good, not good,” he told reporters.
The 9/11 widow on board was identified as Beverly Eckert. She was heading to Buffalo for a celebration of what would have been her husband’s 58th birthday, said Mary Fetchet, a 9/11 family activist.
Airline officials identified the crew as Capt. Marvin Renslow, pilot; first officer Rebecca Shaw and flight attendants Matilda Quintero and Donna Prisco. The off-duty crew member was Capt. Joseph Zuffoletto.
Clarence is a growing eastern suburb of Buffalo, largely residential but with rural stretches. The crash site is a street of closely spaced, older, single-family homes that back up to a wooded area.
The crash came less than a month after a US Airways pilot guided his crippled plane to a landing in the Hudson River off Manhattan, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard. Birds had apparently disabled both its engines.
On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people.
Continental’s release said relatives and friends of those on Flight 3407 who wanted to give or receive information about those on board could telephone a special family assistance number, 1-800-621-3263.
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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, Linda Franklin in Dallas, Daniel Yee in Atlanta, Ron Powers in Washington, and Cristian Salazar and Jennifer Peltz in New York.
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On the Net:
Audio of air traffic control: http://sn.im/bt1z3
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Experts: Crosswinds a factor in Denver air crash
January 7, 2009
By JOAN LOWY
WASHINGTON (AP) — It was very windy when a Continental Airlines jet was destroyed while trying to take off in Denver last month, leading aviation safety experts to cite crosswinds as a likely factor in the accident.
But were those winds strong enough to “weather-vane” the Boeing 737-500? In that phenomenon, the wind pushes an airliner’s tail hard enough to swing its nose into the wind, like a weather vane. In Denver, experts suspect weather-vaning caused the plane to skitter off the runway in a bone-jarring ride across open, snowy fields, eventually coming to a halt and catching fire. But some additional factor — either mechanical failure or human error — probably also played a role, safety experts said.
Crosswinds were “definitely a contributing factor,” said John Cox, a former pilot and president of Safety Operating Systems, an aviation consulting firm in Washington. “Whether it’s causal or not, I don’t think you have enough information to go there yet,”
Gusts of up to 37 mph were reported at Denver International Airport on the day of the accident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Cox and other experts said those gusts may have been strong enough to push the aircraft’s tail around, but the plane’s pilots should have been able to compensate.
Continental Airlines flight 1404 was taking off for Houston on Dec. 20 when the accident occurred. The main landing gear was sheared off, its nose gear collapsed, and the plane carrying 110 passengers rumbled about 2,000 feet from the runway. Thirty-seven people were injured.
NTSB officials have said the plane’s brakes and engines appeared to have been operating normally. Investigators dug the destroyed nose gear out of the ground last week, and safety board spokesman Peter Knudson said preliminary results of that examination may be available later this week.
“We’re looking at (crosswinds), but it’s just one thing we’re looking at,” Knudson said. “Nothing is off the table.”
Spokesmen for Boeing and Continental declined to reveal their guidelines on safely operating the 737-500 in crosswinds. However, Knudson said the winds at the time of the accident should have been “within the envelope” of what the plane could withstand.
NTSB has not identified the plane’s pilot, and the Air Line Pilots Association declined to comment.
But John Nance, a former pilot and aviation safety consultant, was doubtful that crosswinds will ultimately be shown to be a cause. He said wind created by the plane’s velocity as it gained speed heading north down the runway would have offset the impact of the crosswinds from the west.
“It would have taken a mighty burst of wind way, way above anything anybody has recorded, in my view,” Nance said.
Also, he said, compensating for the type of crosswinds experienced in Denver that day would have been second nature for an experienced pilot, “just like riding a bicycle.”
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By JOAN LOWY
WASHINGTON (AP) — It was very windy when a Continental Airlines jet was destroyed while trying to take off in Denver last month, leading aviation safety experts to cite crosswinds as a likely factor in the accident.
But were those winds strong enough to “weather-vane” the Boeing 737-500? In that phenomenon, the wind pushes an airliner’s tail hard enough to swing its nose into the wind, like a weather vane. In Denver, experts suspect weather-vaning caused the plane to skitter off the runway in a bone-jarring ride across open, snowy fields, eventually coming to a halt and catching fire. But some additional factor — either mechanical failure or human error — probably also played a role, safety experts said.
Crosswinds were “definitely a contributing factor,” said John Cox, a former pilot and president of Safety Operating Systems, an aviation consulting firm in Washington. “Whether it’s causal or not, I don’t think you have enough information to go there yet,”
Gusts of up to 37 mph were reported at Denver International Airport on the day of the accident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Cox and other experts said those gusts may have been strong enough to push the aircraft’s tail around, but the plane’s pilots should have been able to compensate.
Continental Airlines flight 1404 was taking off for Houston on Dec. 20 when the accident occurred. The main landing gear was sheared off, its nose gear collapsed, and the plane carrying 110 passengers rumbled about 2,000 feet from the runway. Thirty-seven people were injured.
NTSB officials have said the plane’s brakes and engines appeared to have been operating normally. Investigators dug the destroyed nose gear out of the ground last week, and safety board spokesman Peter Knudson said preliminary results of that examination may be available later this week.
“We’re looking at (crosswinds), but it’s just one thing we’re looking at,” Knudson said. “Nothing is off the table.”
Spokesmen for Boeing and Continental declined to reveal their guidelines on safely operating the 737-500 in crosswinds. However, Knudson said the winds at the time of the accident should have been “within the envelope” of what the plane could withstand.
NTSB has not identified the plane’s pilot, and the Air Line Pilots Association declined to comment.
But John Nance, a former pilot and aviation safety consultant, was doubtful that crosswinds will ultimately be shown to be a cause. He said wind created by the plane’s velocity as it gained speed heading north down the runway would have offset the impact of the crosswinds from the west.
“It would have taken a mighty burst of wind way, way above anything anybody has recorded, in my view,” Nance said.
Also, he said, compensating for the type of crosswinds experienced in Denver that day would have been second nature for an experienced pilot, “just like riding a bicycle.”
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Odd bumping noise heard on Denver plane’s tape
Tue Dec 23, 6:25 am ET
By COLLEEN SLEVIN, Associated Press Writer –
DENVER – Investigators trying to determine why a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and skidded into a ravine heard an odd bumping and rattling noise on the flight’s recorders shortly before it tried to take off.
The noise was detected 41 seconds after the jet started speeding down a runway at Denver International Airport on Saturday. Four seconds later, one of the crew members called for the takeoff to be aborted, said Robert Sumwalt, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.
The recording ends six seconds after that, probably because the plane slammed to the ground after hurtling off an embankment, he said.
Sumwalt revealed the findings late Monday after an initial review of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders. Experts planned to begin a more in-depth analysis of the contents of the recorders in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday while investigators return to the plane’s wreckage in a snowy field at the airport.
All 115 passengers and crew members escaped the jet, which caught fire on the right side. Thirty-eight people were injured, including the plane’s captain.
Sumwalt said investigators have found no problems with the plane’s engines, tires or brakes, but they are not yet ruling anything out.
The plane traveled about 2,000 feet after leaving the runway, crossing a grassy strip and a taxiway before going off the embankment, hitting the ground at its base. It then went up a slight hill, over an access road and then down another small hill on the other side of the road before landing on its belly, its landing gear shorn off.
Lead NTSB investigator Bill English said the plane’s flight data recorder shows the thrusters on both engines were switched to reverse. He said that normally happens when crew members try to stop a takeoff.
Sumwalt said investigators are still gathering information about the exact wind conditions on the runway at the time of the accident. However, he said the cockpit voice recorder contained no comments about wind.
Investigators have not yet interviewed the plane’s captain, who was flying the plane, because Sumwalt said he is physically unable. He didn’t elaborate. They have talked to the first officer, who said the plane began moving off the center of the runway as it reached about 103 mph while speeding down the runway for takeoff.
The plane continued to accelerate, reaching a maximum speed of about 137 mph, Sumwalt said.
Off-duty crew members who had flown the plane earlier in the day also were on board at the time of the accident, and Sumwalt said the first officer from that crew returned to the plane three times to help rescue passengers. Sumwalt also reported that those crew members said they had no problems with the plane during their flight.
A fire charred and ripped open much of the right side of the plane, with the worst damage around a crack around the fuselage. Sumwalt said all the passenger seats remained intact during the plane’s wild ride off the runway, although seats in row 18, near the crack, had loose fittings.
Sumwalt said the runway was bare and dry when the plane attempted to take off for Houston and no debris was found there.
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On the Net:
Denver Airport: http://www.flydenver.com
National Transportation Safety Board: http://www.ntsb.gov
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press
By COLLEEN SLEVIN, Associated Press Writer –
DENVER – Investigators trying to determine why a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and skidded into a ravine heard an odd bumping and rattling noise on the flight’s recorders shortly before it tried to take off.
The noise was detected 41 seconds after the jet started speeding down a runway at Denver International Airport on Saturday. Four seconds later, one of the crew members called for the takeoff to be aborted, said Robert Sumwalt, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.
The recording ends six seconds after that, probably because the plane slammed to the ground after hurtling off an embankment, he said.
Sumwalt revealed the findings late Monday after an initial review of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders. Experts planned to begin a more in-depth analysis of the contents of the recorders in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday while investigators return to the plane’s wreckage in a snowy field at the airport.
All 115 passengers and crew members escaped the jet, which caught fire on the right side. Thirty-eight people were injured, including the plane’s captain.
Sumwalt said investigators have found no problems with the plane’s engines, tires or brakes, but they are not yet ruling anything out.
The plane traveled about 2,000 feet after leaving the runway, crossing a grassy strip and a taxiway before going off the embankment, hitting the ground at its base. It then went up a slight hill, over an access road and then down another small hill on the other side of the road before landing on its belly, its landing gear shorn off.
Lead NTSB investigator Bill English said the plane’s flight data recorder shows the thrusters on both engines were switched to reverse. He said that normally happens when crew members try to stop a takeoff.
Sumwalt said investigators are still gathering information about the exact wind conditions on the runway at the time of the accident. However, he said the cockpit voice recorder contained no comments about wind.
Investigators have not yet interviewed the plane’s captain, who was flying the plane, because Sumwalt said he is physically unable. He didn’t elaborate. They have talked to the first officer, who said the plane began moving off the center of the runway as it reached about 103 mph while speeding down the runway for takeoff.
The plane continued to accelerate, reaching a maximum speed of about 137 mph, Sumwalt said.
Off-duty crew members who had flown the plane earlier in the day also were on board at the time of the accident, and Sumwalt said the first officer from that crew returned to the plane three times to help rescue passengers. Sumwalt also reported that those crew members said they had no problems with the plane during their flight.
A fire charred and ripped open much of the right side of the plane, with the worst damage around a crack around the fuselage. Sumwalt said all the passenger seats remained intact during the plane’s wild ride off the runway, although seats in row 18, near the crack, had loose fittings.
Sumwalt said the runway was bare and dry when the plane attempted to take off for Houston and no debris was found there.
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On the Net:
Denver Airport: http://www.flydenver.com
National Transportation Safety Board: http://www.ntsb.gov
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press