Posted: 2/12/2009 8:32:43 PM EDT
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We lost some more bretheren, and a sister. Hit a housing development just northeast of Buffalo, 49 dead. Dash 8-Q400, EWR-BUF, in Continental Connection colors.
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/577959.html |
Prayers sent for the pax and crew, and most of all, the families left behind.
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Not good news to wake up to...I went through the Q400 school up in Toronto with a couple of Colgan guys, and one of my FOs at Lynx went to Colgan as a Street Captain. Not a good deal.
This is the first hull loss for a Q400 and the first Dash 8 fatal in a long time, though some Piedmont guys got REALLY lucky on two occasions, that prompted a huge AD and redesign of the HYD system. |
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The 2 year industry no crash record just ended, pretty much in my backyard of all places. Sad day.
Yea it was 5.89 miles from the threshold, slightly right of course. They had just been given the transition to tower when they lost them. Busiest part of the approach, tuning radios and just completing the turn to intercept. Makes you wonder. |
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He says its a matter of time until the NTSB contacts him...he's the most experienced DHC8 pilot at Colgan, by a country mile.
He says its pretty surreal right now. He could have very easily been in the left seat. I cheered him by telling him that CNN had pinned the causes of the accident down to carburator icing, the balloons on the wings not inflating, and the props not being certified for icing. |
WJ
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I correct myself, after 15 degrees flaps.
I was listening in the car when I heard the NTSB report and all the reporters questions had me confused. Looking the text version it sounds like they lowered the flaps, then it snapped and they pulled up the flaps and gear but it wasn't enough to straighten it out. With an iced over windscreen, they were in bad shape once it stalled. |
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Quoted:
I correct myself, after 15 degrees flaps. I was listening in the car when I heard the NTSB report and all the reporters questions had me confused. Looking the text version it sounds like they lowered the flaps, then it snapped and they pulled up the flaps and gear but it wasn't enough to straighten it out. With an iced over windscreen, they were in bad shape once it stalled. As a functional matter, you would recover from the unusual attitude with reference to the instruments only...I hope that's whats being taught, anyway. |
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NTSB briefing on the FDR and CVR:
From AVWEB The NTSB Friday announced that information retrieved from the Colgan Air Bombardier Q400 Dash 8 that crashed after a near vertical descent into a suburban Buffalo neighborhood indicates the crew was aware of "significant ice buildup" on the aircraft. Steve Chealander, speaking for the NTSB, Friday told reporters that the cockpit voice and flight data recorders were recovered in good condition and showed the crew noted significant icing on the wings and windscreen as the aircraft descended through 11,000 feet –– and after the aircraft's de-icing equipment had been switched on. The NTSB has not confirmed de-icing equipment was functioning. Initial details of the crash's timeline show that one minute before impact, while flying at about 2,000 feet, the crew lowered the landing gear. That was followed 20 seconds later with flap extension. It was then that the aircraft experienced "severe pitch and roll" movements. The crew attempted to raise the landing gear and that action was followed almost immediately by impact. Weather at the time of the crash, was winds WSW at 17 with gusts to 26. Clouds included an overcast layer at 2100 and broken clouds at 800 feet. Visibility was three or four miles in mist with trace precipitation. The temperature/dewpoint was 33/31. The flight was out of Newark for Buffalo, but ended in a suburban neighborhood about 6 miles northeast of the airport. The crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 at roughly 10:20 pm, Thursday, took the lives of all 49 aboard the aircraft, plus one of three in the home it impacted on the ground. The concentrated impact area and witness reports suggest a near vertical descent. |
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It was interesting to see a little of the news conference this morning. What struck me is that the NTSB guy said it impacted flat - not nose down like witnesses said. They were landing runway 23 but the aircraft's nose was pointed northeast. At any rate, those conditions are horrible for icing. I got into that once while at UPT and my student (former commuter guy) wasn't phased by the fact the windshield heat could hardly keep the ice off the windscreen. I got out of there ASAP.
Spooky |
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Quoted:
NTSB briefing on the FDR and CVR: From AVWEB The NTSB Friday announced that information retrieved from the Colgan Air Bombardier Q400 Dash 8 that crashed after a near vertical descent into a suburban Buffalo neighborhood indicates the crew was aware of "significant ice buildup" on the aircraft. Steve Chealander, speaking for the NTSB, Friday told reporters that the cockpit voice and flight data recorders were recovered in good condition and showed the crew noted significant icing on the wings and windscreen as the aircraft descended through 11,000 feet –– and after the aircraft's de-icing equipment had been switched on. The NTSB has not confirmed de-icing equipment was functioning. Initial details of the crash's timeline show that one minute before impact, while flying at about 2,000 feet, the crew lowered the landing gear. That was followed 20 seconds later with flap extension. It was then that the aircraft experienced "severe pitch and roll" movements. The crew attempted to raise the landing gear and that action was followed almost immediately by impact. Weather at the time of the crash, was winds WSW at 17 with gusts to 26. Clouds included an overcast layer at 2100 and broken clouds at 800 feet. Visibility was three or four miles in mist with trace precipitation. The temperature/dewpoint was 33/31. The flight was out of Newark for Buffalo, but ended in a suburban neighborhood about 6 miles northeast of the airport. The crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 at roughly 10:20 pm, Thursday, took the lives of all 49 aboard the aircraft, plus one of three in the home it impacted on the ground. The concentrated impact area and witness reports suggest a near vertical descent. I was thinking about that too...I imagine that's a function of firewall thrust and full aft yoke at the final moment. Its really hard to explain how overpowered a Q400 is...so they probably got enough induced lift (wrong term?) from the power. |