AVIATION EXPERTS are examining “black box” flight data recorders retrieved from a Continental Airways flight that crashed into a house near Buffalo in upstate New York, killing 50 people.
All 49 passengers and crew on board the flight from Newark were killed, along with a man living in the house that was struck shortly after 10pm on Thursday night.
Investigators declined to speculate yesterday on the cause of the crash, but a number of pilots in the area around the time of the crash reported icing on their aircraft, while bad weather had caused delays at airports in the region.
No Mayday call came from the pilot before the crash, according to a recording of air traffic control messages and there was no indication of trouble as the aircraft was told to fly at 2,300ft in preparation for landing. A minute later, however, air traffic control tried to contact the pilot but got no response.
A natural gas leak fuelled a fierce fire at the crash scene, delaying the recovery effort yesterday, as the National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of investigators to Buffalo.
Erie County executive Chris Collins said the aircraft was carrying 5,000lb of fuel which exploded on impact and that firefighters who arrived on the scene tried to get as close as possible amid intense heat. “They were shouting out to see if there were any survivors on the plane. Truly a very heroic effort, but there were no survivors,” he said.
Witnesses said the plane was unusually loud as it flew overhead, sputtering as it came down towards the residential district of Clarence.
“It didn’t sound normal,” said David Luce. “We heard it for a few seconds, then it stopped, then a couple of seconds later was this tremendous explosion.”
The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft was operated for Continental by Virginia-based Colgan Air, which said its immediate concern was the victims’ families rather than the cause of the crash.
“At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air’s accident response team are being mobilised and will be devoted to co-operating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them,” the company said.
Thursday’s crash came less than one month after a US Airways pilot, whose engines were disabled by a flock of birds, guided his aircraft to an emergency landing in New York’s Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 people on board. This week’s accident was the first fatal crash of a commercial passenger plane in the US since August 2006, when a Comair flight crashed shortly after take-off in Lexington, Kentucky.
President Barack Obama said that he and his wife Michelle were “deeply saddened” by Thursday’s crash and extended their sympathies to the loved ones of those who died.
“Our thanks go out to the brave first responders who arrived immediately to try and save lives and who are still on the scene keeping people safe,” he said.
“Tragic events such as these remind us of the fragility of life and the value of every single day.”