Sad Day:49 KILLED AS PLANE CRASHES INTO HOME IN CLARENCE CENTER

[LUVMBDiesels]

Very sad news to wake up to...
My Heart goes out to the victims and their families

QUOTE: http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/577959.html
"
49 KILLED AS PLANE CRASHES INTO HOME IN CLARENCE CENTER

By Dale Anderson,Phil Fairbanks and Gene Warner
News Staff Reporters
Forty-nine people died when a Continental Express airplane crashed into a house in Clarence Center shortly after 10:15 p.m. Thursday, setting off a huge fire that could be seen miles away.
The dead included 44 passengers, four crew members and a person on the ground.
A nurse at Erie County Medical Center said the hospital's second shift had been told to stay late to treat survivors but was sent home before midnight.
"There were no souls to bring in and treat," she said.
Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority spokesman C. Douglas Hartmayer said there was little communication between the plane, Flight 3407, and the tower before the crash. Crew members aboard the flight from Newark Airport had not reported mechanical problems as they approached Buffalo.
The plane was a Bombardier Q400, a twin-engine turboprop with a passenger capacity of about 74.
"I was told by the tower the plane simply dropped off the radar screen," Hartmayer said.
Listen to the last radio transmission from the plane, call sign Colgan 3407.The crash occurred at 6038 Long St., not far from the Clarence Center Fire Hall on Clarence Center Road. Police said one man was in the residence at the time of the crash.
About 12 other nearby homes were evacuated. Several of them sustained fire damage.
"We had a significant amount of fuel left in the aircraft," said Dave Bissonette, emergency co ordinator for the Town of Clarence. "It was a hazmat situation."
Three people were in the home at 6038 Long St. when the plane crashed.
"Unfortunately, there was a town resident in one home that perished, and two people escaped from that home with minor injuries," Erie County Executive Chris Collins said.
The two who escaped, Karen Wielinski, 57, and her daughter, Jill, 22, were taken to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, where Kaleida Health officials said they were in stable condition in the emergency room.
"They confirmed they were in the house when the plane hit," Kaleida communications chief Michael P. Hughes said.
Two volunteer firefighters also were being treated at Millard Fillmore Suburban, with injuries not believed to be serious.
Local officials have received a copy of the manifest of passengers aboard the ill-fated flight, but that list has not been released, until all families are notified.
Family members and close friends who were at the airport or arrived from out of town were taken to the Cheektowaga Senior Citizen Center early this morning.
"We're trying to do everything we can for these people," Cheektowaga Police Capt. John Glascott said. "Right now they're grieving."
The National Transportation Safety Board was expected to be on the ground at the crash site by about 6 a.m.
"The site right now is too hot for anyone to start the investigation," Collins said during a 4 a.m. press conference.
At 3:15 a.m.. the wreckage continued to smolder with several hot spots.
Tony Tatro, 35, who lives on Goodrich Road, was driving east on Clarence Center Road just before the crash.
He saw the plane, just above him, heading north, which seemed to be in the exact opposite direction it should have been heading.
"It was [flying] nose down, hardly above the treetops, and its left wing was tilted slightly down," Tatro said. "I did not see any landing gear. I saw the underbelly of the plane fairly well. There was nothing burning on the plane and no physical dam� age. Nothing seemed wrong, except it was on a bad path."
The sound of the plane was labored and unusually loud just before the crash.
Tatro didn't see the crash, but he had no trouble hearing it, even with his car windows closed.
What did he think about the chance of there being any survivors?
"No chance," Tatro replied. "It was a bad, bad impact. It was hot, and the explosion was massive. I couldn't see anyone surviving it."
Chris Kausner of Clarence, whose sister Ellyce was aboard the flight, told The Buffalo News that after he heard about the crash, he called another sister who had gone to pick her up at the airport to see if her plane had landed.
"She said that they told them the plane had landed and was taxiing, but that was not the case," he said.
Kausner said Ellyce was a law student at Florida Coastal University in Jacksonville and was coming home to visit.
Family members of Flight 3407 passengers and crew are asked to contact Continental Airlines at 1-800-621-3263.
In Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board announced that it will be sending a team to Buffalo this morning to investigate the crash.
Lorenda Ward will serve as chief investigator. She has investigated several other plane crashes during her tenure at the agency -- including the fall 2007 crash in Manhattan that claimed the life of New York Yankees pitcher Corey Lidle.
Safety Board Commissioner Steven Chealander and public affairs officer Keith Holloway will accompany Ward to Buffalo. While the agency's investigations usually take months to complete, the agency said it would hold a news conference to discuss the accident in the Buffalo area today.




The crash is America's deadliest since a Comair commuter jet crashed in Lexington, Ky., on Aug. 27, 2006. That crash also claimed 49 lives.
David Luce, who lives about 150 yards from the crash scene, on Goodrich Road, said he wasn't surprised to learn that there were so many deaths.
"I can't imagine that anyone survived it," he said. "If you heard that explosion, and you saw how fast the whole area was on fire, it was pretty clear that it was jet fuel burning."
Just before the crash, Luce heard the plane and noticed that it sounded a little funny.
"It sounded quite loud, and then the sound stopped," Luce said. "Then one or two seconds later, there was a thunderous explosion. I thought something hit our house. It shook our whole house."
"There was the initial boom, and then these cannon shots ... these loud secondary explosions, and they went on for about 10 minutes."
Within 5 to 10 seconds, Luce said he saw flames 40 or 50 feet high.
One or two minutes after the crash, Luce had walked to a spot that gave him a clearer view of the scene.
"The house was already flattened. There was no house, just a pile of rubble and still burning."
Luce said he heard screams following the crash, but he doesn't know whether they came from injured people or from neighbors.
Almost two hours after the crash, Luce said he still saw flames shooting from the crash site, but they were not as high as before. Buffalo News Staff Photographer Harry Scull Jr., who lives in Clarence, said he heard a fire alarm at 10:20 p.m.
"Thirty seconds later, the phone rang, and I knew it was something big," he said. "It was my neighbor. He said a plane hit a house, look out your window. I'm two miles from there, and it was a ball of fire."
Scull said he went to Long Street to take photos and found a chaotic scene as firefighters attempted to run hoses to fight the flames.
News Staff Reporters T.J. Pignataro, Harold McNeil, Sharon Linstedt, and Staff Photographers Harry Scull Jr. and Bill Wippert contributed to this report.

[SwampYankee]

I heard on the radio on the drive in that one of those killed was a 9/11 widow flying up for a celebration for what would have been her husband's 58th birthday. Lot of sadness to go around.

[Kuan]

Very sad. I know chances are worse on the road, but at least you're in control of your own destiny while you're driving.

[coonerboy]

What a horrific incident. Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those lost. Whenever a plane crash like this happens, I try to think of what the people onboard were going through as the plane was going down, knowing that they were going to die. It must be horrific the terror that they were experiencing.

[dynalow]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29173163/?GT1=43001


.........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.

A minute later, the controller tries to contact the plane but hears no response. After a pause, he tries to contact the plane again.

Eventually he tells an unidentified listener to contact authorities on the ground in the Clarence area.

"You need to find if anything is on the ground," the controller says. "All I can tell you is the aircraft is over the marker (landing beacon), and we're not talking to them now."

After the crash, at least two pilots are heard saying they have been picking up ice on their wings.

"We've been getting ice since 20 miles south of the airport," one says.

[WVOtoGO]

Originally Posted by Kuan

but at least you're in control of your own destiny while you're driving.

Are you really?

Think about it.

[Carleton Hughes]

Originally Posted by WVOtoGO

Are you really?

Think about it.

Indeed.

http://www.car-accidents.com/mercedes-benz-crash.html

[Kuan]

Originally Posted by WVOtoGO

Are you really?

Think about it.

I believe I am. Believe.

[raymr]

If it was ice, how will they know for sure?

[Mistress]

Originally Posted by raymr

If it was ice, how will they know for sure?

waiting for WVO.....to chime in......

[WVOtoGO]

Originally Posted by coonerboy

What a horrific incident. Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those lost. Whenever a plane crash like this happens, I try to think of what the people onboard were going through as the plane was going down, knowing that they were going to die. It must be horrific the terror that they were experiencing.

Yes it is.

I’ve been in aviation for as long as I can remember.
Been flying now for more than 30 years.
Been involved in numerous (in one form or another) accidents and/or incidences.

You’d think I’d have grown some thicker skin by now. But listening to those tapes always gives me the serious chills.

As for the PAX thoughts: That’s something I find hard NOT to think about. Though I do try not to.

That close to the ground, on approach…. A lot of times the PAX really don’t have time to comprehend what’s going on. Especially if they can’t see outside the cabin.
I think that’s a good thing.
I’ve also heard that when subjected to imminent death, the mind kind of shuts down. I’ve had an accident where I can honestly say that from the point that I knew I was screwed to the time it was over…I don’t recall a thing. Let’s hope something here applies to those folks.

X2 on the thoughts and prayers going out to the families of those lost.

[WVOtoGO]

Originally Posted by Kuan

I believe I am. Believe.

I agree that being behind the wheel certainly does give you more control over any situation as apposed to sitting behind the cockpit.
But I can’t think of how anyone who has ever died in an automobile accident (that was not their fault) that would feel they had much control over their destiny.

Driving along…minding your own business…in control of your destiny…
Out of nowhere – BAM.

X2 on the believe though. Never stop believing.

[Mistress]

I wonder if there is anyway they can design a wing that can carry de-icing liquid in a reservoir similar to winshield wiper fluid?

[lutzTD]

Originally Posted by raymr

If it was ice, how will they know for sure?

they should be able to tell from the flight recorder records of the postion or the pilot control inputs of the flight surfaces, the pilots will be trying to compensate for the loss of lift due to the ice

[WVOtoGO]

Originally Posted by raymr

If it was ice, how will they know for sure?

CVR tapes to start with:
What’s being said in the cockpit is usually far more than what’s being said over the radios.

Then a look into the FDR (Flight Data Recorder):
Power settings and Configuration vs. Speed vs. Attitude vs. Vertical speed and so forth.
They can look into all these parameters and conclude that the only possible way for all the findings to add up and result in the crash was….(Perhaps in this case: Ice on the wings/tail/control surface(s).)

edit: What Lutz said.