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Author Topic: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY  (Read 18981 times)

Offline EivlEvo

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Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« on: February 12, 2009, 11:43:21 PM »
A local guy out of state... just wondering what the latest news is. Nothing on the nationals yet.

Now I'm hearing it was a continental?
« Last Edit: February 13, 2009, 12:28:41 AM by dave »



Offline jrsx

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Continental Express Crash in Buffalo
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2009, 12:23:11 AM »
Don't have any web links, but all the cable news channels are reporting it went into a house.
Reports are that 48 people were on board.

Offline NYCHiker

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Offline crschmid

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2009, 02:34:04 AM »
Chilling and tragic.

Offline ceilidhmc

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2009, 03:20:45 AM »
Based on the ATC comm it sounds highly possible that icing was a factor in the crash.  Another note was the Delta flight reporting a fluctuation in the localiser during their final.  That would be 2 cockpit management issues that are routine, but might have been too much if there were additional issues.

Offline ceilidhmc

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2009, 03:34:42 AM »
Further clarification....Colgan 3407 was a Bombardier Q-400 not a Dash 8.  Here is a link

http://www.q400.com/q400/en/home.jsp

Offline ceilidhmc

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2009, 03:55:59 AM »
Just another helpful note when listening to the ATC of the Colgan 3407 flight.  As with all Commercial air travel, there is a flight crew of 2, a Captain and a First Officer.  During each leg of the shift one of the 2 pilots flies and the other handles all radio communication.  So in this instance the Female pilot in the Colgan ATC transmissions would not be flying the aircraft.

Most shifts on short-haul domestic flights involve one aircraft and crew flying to several locations during the shift.  For example I rode in the jump seat of a Nordair flight a while back and their shift that night was Quebec City - Montreal - Ottawa - Montreal - Quebec City - Montreal.  So on each leg of that shift 1 pilot was at the controls and the other handled all radio comm.  On each leg they swapped jobs.

Offline niagaragirl

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2009, 06:27:41 AM »
For the OP - I have a very small article posted on my food blog.

http://buffalofood.blogspot.com/2009/02/continental-flight-3407-crashes-in.html


This is such a sad day here in Bflo. This happened about 10 miles from me. I will do an update on my blog probably later today.

Offline atcman23

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2009, 07:40:54 AM »
Further clarification....Colgan 3407 was a Bombardier Q-400 not a Dash 8.  Here is a link

http://www.q400.com/q400/en/home.jsp


The Q400 is a stretched version of a Dash-8 (originally made by DeHavilland, before Bombardier bought them).  Technically, not a Dash-8 but really not far from it, either.

Offline ogogog

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2009, 10:19:44 AM »
Further clarification....Colgan 3407 was a Bombardier Q-400 not a Dash 8.  Here is a link

http://www.q400.com/q400/en/home.jsp


The Q400 is a stretched version of a Dash-8 (originally made by DeHavilland, before Bombardier bought them).  Technically, not a Dash-8 but really not far from it, either.

oh really , than how come the 2 Q400s that  i worked into MDW last night were showed as DH8D on the strip?????????????????????????????????

Offline bevers

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2009, 10:25:09 AM »
Press release on Bombardier's own website refers to the Q400 as a Dash-8.

http://www.bombardier.com/en/corporate/media-centre/press-releases/details?docID=0901260d800801ab

Offline mk

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2009, 10:31:22 AM »
i think he meant it's not a Dash-8 because it's not made by the same company....When boeing started building MD-88s or DC 9s, they renamed the plane and called it a Boeing 717....but yes, the D model is still a Dash-8. Dash-8 D Q400 model.

Offline larryb711

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2009, 11:31:16 AM »
Based on the ATC comm it sounds highly possible that icing was a factor in the crash.  Another note was the Delta flight reporting a fluctuation in the localiser during their final.  That would be 2 cockpit management issues that are routine, but might have been too much if there were additional issues.

Until we know for sure, my first thought was icing was a factor in the crash. I read  they were flying through snow, and the plane nose dived into the home. The only reason I can figure was icing or a catastrophic break up of some part of the plane. It will be interesting to find out what information the black box provides. Or, if they find another part of the plane such as a part of the wing, rudder, or stabilizer broke off while in flight.  In any case, my prayers are with the familys of those on board.

Offline KB6HLM

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2009, 12:53:40 PM »
Thanks MSNBC for providing the link to liveatc.net

Complaints of ice on wings
Prior to the crash, the voice of a female pilot on Continental Flight 3407 could be heard communicating with air traffic controllers, according to a recording of the Buffalo air traffic control's radio messages shortly before the crash captured by the Web site http://www.liveatc.net . Neither the controller nor the pilot showed any concerns that anything is out of the ordinary as the airplane is asked to fly at 2,300 feet.

More on this story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29173163/?GT1=43001

Offline niagaragirl

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Re: Continental Express plane crash near Buffalo, NY
« Reply #14 on: February 14, 2009, 03:13:21 PM »
I'd like to thank the LiveATC site and its members for helping me get a better understanding of this tragic event. By way of your site, I was able to find other resources that offered some good technical info. The misinformation and conjecture presented by the media outlets, both local and national was very frustrating. As a Buffalo local, the event understandably had great impact.

As a ham radio girl and scanner geek from way back, glad to have found this site. The aircraft stuff was always fun for me. I'll now have a renewed interest in it thanks to the resources here.

Thanks to all in the community here who have offered prayers and condolences.