Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 50 killed
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Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 50 killed
A small passenger plane crashed into a home near Buffalo, N.Y., Thursday night.
New York state police said the aircraft was a 50-passenger commuter plane.
It was just after 10:20 p.m. when the plane, believed to be heading towards the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, crashed into the home on Long Street in Clarence Centre, a small community just northeast of Buffalo, neighbours said.
Neighbours said the plane - which appeared to be a small propeller plane - came in loudly and lower than normal, before it hit the house with a loud bang.
"This one you knew definitely was very low, and then it was 'boom,' like thunder. Very scary," said a woman, Norma, who lives across from the home the plane hit.
A woman and her daughter said to be living in the home made it out uninjured and were at a neighbour's house. A man also lived at the house, but it wasn't clear whether he was hurt or not.
Sources said 10 people were hurt, but it wasn't immediately clear if anyone died.
Half an hour later, fire departments had arrived and put out the fire. The house continued to smoke, one of the plane's wings sticking up out of the remains.
"The house is gone. totally gone," neighbour Kelly Simkin told a local news station. "We really think it only landed on one house.
"It is amazing what this plane maybe could have done."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... ocrash0213
New York state police said the aircraft was a 50-passenger commuter plane.
It was just after 10:20 p.m. when the plane, believed to be heading towards the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, crashed into the home on Long Street in Clarence Centre, a small community just northeast of Buffalo, neighbours said.
Neighbours said the plane - which appeared to be a small propeller plane - came in loudly and lower than normal, before it hit the house with a loud bang.
"This one you knew definitely was very low, and then it was 'boom,' like thunder. Very scary," said a woman, Norma, who lives across from the home the plane hit.
A woman and her daughter said to be living in the home made it out uninjured and were at a neighbour's house. A man also lived at the house, but it wasn't clear whether he was hurt or not.
Sources said 10 people were hurt, but it wasn't immediately clear if anyone died.
Half an hour later, fire departments had arrived and put out the fire. The house continued to smoke, one of the plane's wings sticking up out of the remains.
"The house is gone. totally gone," neighbour Kelly Simkin told a local news station. "We really think it only landed on one house.
"It is amazing what this plane maybe could have done."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... ocrash0213
Last edited by Brent on Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:08 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Continential commuter plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 49 kille
49 killed as plane crashes into Clarence Center home
Forty-nine people reportedly died when an aircraft identified as a Continental Airlines flight crashed into a house in Clarence Center shortly after 10 p.m. last night, starting a huge fire which poured thick smoke throughout the hamlet.
Unconfirmed reports from a source at Buffalo Niagara International Airport said that the dead included 44 passengers, four crew members and a person on the ground.
County Executive Chris Collins said that there may have been as many as 50 people aboard the plane and crew members had reported mechanical problems as they approached Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Several injured people were taken from the scene to Erie County Medical Center for treatment.
Television reports said the crash site was 6050 Long St., not far from the Clarence Center Fire Hall on Clarence Center Road. Police said that one man was in the residence at the time of the crash.
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/577959.html
Forty-nine people reportedly died when an aircraft identified as a Continental Airlines flight crashed into a house in Clarence Center shortly after 10 p.m. last night, starting a huge fire which poured thick smoke throughout the hamlet.
Unconfirmed reports from a source at Buffalo Niagara International Airport said that the dead included 44 passengers, four crew members and a person on the ground.
County Executive Chris Collins said that there may have been as many as 50 people aboard the plane and crew members had reported mechanical problems as they approached Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Several injured people were taken from the scene to Erie County Medical Center for treatment.
Television reports said the crash site was 6050 Long St., not far from the Clarence Center Fire Hall on Clarence Center Road. Police said that one man was in the residence at the time of the crash.
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/577959.html
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We were watching recorded shows until 11 pm last night. I didn't even know this tragic crash happened until I turned on the news this morning.
My heart is just so heavy for those that perished and for their family members left behind.
The opposite feeling of when Sully saved the day and everyone on board his plane.

My heart is just so heavy for those that perished and for their family members left behind.
The opposite feeling of when Sully saved the day and everyone on board his plane.



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- Dionne
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Re: Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 49 killed
A widow and co-founder of Voices of 9/11 was on the flight. Beverly Eckert. She was enroute to present a scholarship in honor of her late husband.
Last edited by Dionne on Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- tropicana
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Re: Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 49 killed
the site of that crash is just 30 miles east south east of where i live 
i didnt know about it til this morning either.
-justin-

i didnt know about it til this morning either.
-justin-
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Re: Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 49 killed
Dionne wrote:A widow and co-founder of Voices of 9/11 was on the flight. Beverly Eckert. She was enroute to present a scholarship in honor of her late husband.
That is a horrible horrible irony.

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- brunota2003
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BUFFALO, N.Y. – The crew of a commuter plane that fell out of the sky, killing all 49 people aboard and one person on the ground, noticed significant ice buildup on the wings and windshield just before the plane began pitching and rolling violently, investigators said Friday.
Officials stopped short of saying the ice buildup caused Thursday night's crash and stressed that nothing has been ruled out. But ice on a plane's wings can interfere catastrophically with an aircraft's handling and has been blamed for a number of major air disasters over the years.
Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J., went down in light snow and fog late Thursday and crashed into a house in suburban Clarence. Killed were 44 passengers, four crew members, one off-duty pilot and one person on the ground.
Two others escaped from the home, which was engulfed in a dramatic fireball that raged higher than the treetops and burned for hours. Bodies still could not be recovered hours later.
The plane went through a "severe pitch and roll" experience after positioning its flaps for a landing, said Steve Chealander, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090213/ap_ ... _into_home
Officials stopped short of saying the ice buildup caused Thursday night's crash and stressed that nothing has been ruled out. But ice on a plane's wings can interfere catastrophically with an aircraft's handling and has been blamed for a number of major air disasters over the years.
Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J., went down in light snow and fog late Thursday and crashed into a house in suburban Clarence. Killed were 44 passengers, four crew members, one off-duty pilot and one person on the ground.
Two others escaped from the home, which was engulfed in a dramatic fireball that raged higher than the treetops and burned for hours. Bodies still could not be recovered hours later.
The plane went through a "severe pitch and roll" experience after positioning its flaps for a landing, said Steve Chealander, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090213/ap_ ... _into_home
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- tropicana
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Re: Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 50 killed
another Continental Aircraft had a flaps incident last night:
Thu Feb 12 2009
A Continental Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration N33714 performing flight CO-1429 from Houston,TX (USA) to Calgary,AB (Canada), went around while on approach to runway 34. The crew reported subsequently, that they had flaps problems and requested emergency services to stand by for their landing. The airplane landed safely 12 minutes later.
Thu Feb 12 2009
A Continental Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration N33714 performing flight CO-1429 from Houston,TX (USA) to Calgary,AB (Canada), went around while on approach to runway 34. The crew reported subsequently, that they had flaps problems and requested emergency services to stand by for their landing. The airplane landed safely 12 minutes later.
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Re: Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 50 killed
Significant ice buildup, sounds like air florida flight 90.
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- Stephanie
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Re: Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 49 killed
Dionne wrote:A widow and co-founder of Voices of 9/11 was on the flight. Beverly Eckert. She was enroute to present a scholarship in honor of her late husband.
He was originally from Buffalo and it was his 58th birthday. That poor family!
May they all rest in peace. How horrible!
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x-y-no wrote:As data comes in, it's looking more and more like ice was the problem. It seems likely that because of ice buildup they were close to stalling and when they deployed the flaps preparatory to landing this was enough to push them over the edge into a full stall.
Someone nearby or perhaps it was the woman in the house that was demolished said that she heard the plane and it was sputtering.
I guess it's a good thing that there weren't other accidents due to this icing. Maybe their de-icers weren't turned on long enough or quick enough?
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Re: Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 50 killed
Theoretical question:
if they had ice buildup, and the de-icers weren't working adequately on this plane, and the crew noticed it and lets just say that when they deployed the flaps the plane started to roll badly, had they re-gained control by re-deploying the flaps..what could they have done here to get rid of the ice? Or at least reduce it? Fly even lower? or were they at this point doomed anyway? Is there any other way to help break off the ice?
The other question of course is:- many other aircraft that night flew into Buffalo Airport at that time, and even though they reported ice build-up, their aircrafts obviously did not suffer the same fate.
I am positive that the crew of that plane did all that they could have in the short time they had to not crash, and in my mind, they are no less of heroes than the US Airways in New York on Jan 15/09.
-justin-
if they had ice buildup, and the de-icers weren't working adequately on this plane, and the crew noticed it and lets just say that when they deployed the flaps the plane started to roll badly, had they re-gained control by re-deploying the flaps..what could they have done here to get rid of the ice? Or at least reduce it? Fly even lower? or were they at this point doomed anyway? Is there any other way to help break off the ice?
The other question of course is:- many other aircraft that night flew into Buffalo Airport at that time, and even though they reported ice build-up, their aircrafts obviously did not suffer the same fate.
I am positive that the crew of that plane did all that they could have in the short time they had to not crash, and in my mind, they are no less of heroes than the US Airways in New York on Jan 15/09.
-justin-
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- brunota2003
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It all probably happened so fast, so low, there was nothing that could be done. Reports say the deicers were working fine...but the stick shaker and pusher did go off, warning them they were dangerously close to stall speed.
If they stalled when the flaps were engaged, it would explain the violent pitching and turning of the aircraft. At that point, there is nothing can be done until the proper speed is reacquired.
But by then, they were simply too low to recover.
If they stalled when the flaps were engaged, it would explain the violent pitching and turning of the aircraft. At that point, there is nothing can be done until the proper speed is reacquired.
But by then, they were simply too low to recover.
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Re: Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 50 killed
The last big icing crash was an American Eagle ATR turbo-prop near Chicago, the planes look remarkably similar, maybe something in the design of the plane, like the wings not being swept like a jets, contributed. Or maybe not.
Q-400

ATR

Q-400

ATR

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- Dionne
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Re: Continential plane crashes in Buffalo, NY; 50 killed
NTSB Chairman Jim Hall....."economic interests are trumping safety interests"......part of his statement about the turbo props and icing events.
If the winter weather is questionable and your about to board a turbo prop.....don't get on.
If the winter weather is questionable and your about to board a turbo prop.....don't get on.
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