- No Recovery No Fee!
- Personal Injury
- Tourist Related Injuries
- Wrongful Death
- Work Related Injuries
- Blog
Continental Airlines Flight 3407
Serving Buffalo, New York
The crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 on February 12, 2009, killed all 49 people onboard and one person on the ground as it began its decent to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. While this is tragic in itself, the beginning of the subsequent investigation points toward this as a preventable accident.
The aircraft was a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 twin-engine turboprop operated by Colgan Air, Inc. and was flying from Newark Liberty International Airport to its Buffalo destination. The flight of the aircraft took it directly through weather that may have caused ice buildup on the wings.
While icing on wings has been a concern, deicing mechanisms have been installed on a number of commuter aircraft. On the Dash 8, the deicing mechanism consists of a rubber boot to deice the wings, tail and engine intakes through a pneumatic system, and an electrical system deices the propeller and warning system.
Autopilot Concerns
Flight 3407 was found to have been on autopilot on it approach into the Buffalo airport. Autopilot is discouraged in icy conditions because it can hide a situation where ice buildup is going on. The flight crew may not notice the adjustments the autopilot is making to keep the aircraft in a normal flight parameter. When a pilot flies manually, they are able to feel the effects of ice buildup and can then make a decision on whether to fly out of the icy conditions.
The NTSB has mentioned before that the FAA has not addressed icing problems in the past, including those which may occur to the Dash 8. An automatic deicing system was not present on Flight 3407, which the FAA had proposed in the past for these types of airplanes.
Training Concerns
The crew of Flight 3407 lowered the landing gear and wing flaps. The air speed declined as they did this, and the system issued a stall warning and a “stick pusher.” The plane automatically moved the pilot’s yoke forward to push down the nose to recover from a wing stall. It is believed the pilot then manually pulled back and increased the throttle to full power, which caused the nose to pitch up. The plane then stalled, whipped left, and began a steep right turn, losing significant altitude.
The pilot of Flight 3407 had experience on another type of plane, but very little in the Dash 8. The NTSB believes it is this lack of training that may have caused the pilot to pull back on the yoke, stalling the plane. In another type of plane, the procedure to avoid a stall is different than it is in the Dash 8. The craft the pilot of Flight 3407 had most of his experience in was susceptible to a tail stall, which calls for yanking back on the yoke, rather than pushing the nose down as is done during a wing stall. By pulling back, it seems as if the pilot didn’t know what kind of stall was going on, and did not act to correct the right kind.
The NTSB has requested better deicing protocols be put into place for over 15 years, yet nothing has been done. Increasing research for deicing systems and revising requirements for aircraft certification are two of these. There is also the question of if the Dash 8 should have even been flying that night. Two airlines stopped flying turboprop planes in cold weather after a similar plane crash. Other airlines simply stopped turboprop flights in cold weather following concerns for safety. However, Colgan Air continues to fly turboprops between Newark and Buffalo, knowing about the icy conditions in that area.
The former chairman of the NTSB has said, “What made this crash more than tragic was that it was foreseeable and likely preventable if not for the preference of profit over safety in some of the aviation industry and for the lax oversight of the FAA in its failure to adequately address the known safety risks related to icing.
The NTSB believes the crash of Flight 3407 in Buffalo, New York was preventable. It may have been a combination of icing, experience, and lax oversight by the FAA. Many families who lost loved ones are now searching for answers why this happened.
If you lost a loved one aboard Flight 3407, or know someone who did, please contact the experienced aviation accident attorneys at John Feroleto, Attorneys at Law. We serve the Buffalo, New York area.
910 Main Court Building | 438 Main Street | Buffalo, NY 14202 | (716) 854-0700
