http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,492164,00.html
Yes people die every day from fires and such but as this was a commuter plane crash i figured it was a bit more important news. Especially since its in the US, where airplane crashing fears are really high after 9/11.(And also obviously because this crash occurred in the state of New York.)
Just wondering your guys take on it and wondering if you think itll shoot up more fears that are already high in the US. Not every day you see a plane crash, one with more than 1-2 people on it at that.
(No Survivors)
BREAKING NEWS — A commuter plane crashed into a suburban Buffalo home and erupted in flames late Thursday, killing all 48 people aboard and one person on the ground, authorities said.
Flames silhouetted the shattered home after Continental Connection Flight 3407 plummeted into it around 10:20 p.m. The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft, operated by Colgan Air, was flying from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in light snow, fog and 17 mph winds.
It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner took off from a Lexington, Ky., runway that was too short.
"The whole sky was lit up orange," Bob Dworak, who lives less than a mile from the crash site, told The Associated Press. He said that residents of the neighborhood, about 10 miles from the Buffalo airport, were used to planes rumbling overhead, but he took note Thursday night when one sounded louder than usual, sputtered and made some odd noises.
PHOTOS: Fire and Wreckage From the Crash Scene
VIDEO: Amateur Video Captures Crash Scene Inferno
Doug Hartmayer, a spokesman for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority that operates the airport, said it was unknown if the airport reported any trouble.
"There is an extensive investigation as we speak," Hartmayer said. "There was very little or any communication before the crash."
"The plane simply dropped off the radar screen," he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board planned a 4 a.m. news conference in Clarence; Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency would join a team investigating the scene at sunrise.
Witness Tony Tatro said he saw the plane flying low and knew it was in trouble.
"It was not spiraling at all. The left wing was a little low," he told WGRZ-TV.
Before the crash, the voice of a female pilot on Flight 3407 can 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 www.liveatc.net. Neither the controller nor the pilot exchanges 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.
Then the controller asks the pilot of a nearby Delta Air Lines plane to see whether he can see the Continental flight. The Delta pilot says no.
About three to four minutes after that, 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."
Later, he tells all aircraft monitoring the same frequency: "We did have a Dash 8 over the marker that didn't make the airport. He appears to be about five miles away from the airport."
The newest member of Bombardier's Dash-8 class aircraft, the Q400 had its first flight in 1998 and entered commercial service in February 2000.
Houston-based Continental Airlines issued a statement saying that preliminary information showed the plane carried 44 passengers and a crew of four.
"At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air's accident response team are being mobilized and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them," the statement said.
Chris Kausner of Clarence, believing his sister was on the plane, rushed to a hastily established command center after calling his vacationing mother in Florida to break the news.
"To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I've never heard before. So not good, not good," he told reporters.
He told The Buffalo News his sister, Ellyce, was a law student at Florida Coastal University in Jacksonville and on her way home for a visit.
Clarence emergency control director Dave Bissonette says the crash also killed one person on the ground.
Clarence is a growing eastern suburb of Buffalo, largely residential but with rural stretches. The crash site is a street of older, single-family homes which apparently back up to wooded area.
Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air said in a statement that airline personnel and local authorities were working to confirm the number of people on board and their identities.
Twelve homes were evacuated near the crash site, about 10 miles from the airport. The tail or part of a wing was visible through flames and thick smoke that engulfed the scene. While the fire was contained, smoke still billowed over the scene about four hours later. Houses in the neighborhood are only about 20-25 feet apart.
"The fact that the damage is limited to the one residence is really amazing," said state police spokeswoman Rebecca Gibbons.
As family members of the victims trickled in to the airport in the overnight hours, they were escorted by airport personnel to a private area.
Erie County Executive Chris Collins described the crash site as "surreal," with the tail of the plane sticking out of the ground.
The aircraft, carrying 5,000 pounds of fuel, apparently exploded on impact, he said. He said it hit only one home that happened to be next to a firehouse, allowing rescuers to arrive in seconds.
"The firefighters were on that scene immediately, attempting to rescue anyone who could have been rescued," Collins said. "What I've been told is that they got as close to the plane as they could. They were shouting out to see if there were any survivors on the plane. Truly a very heroic effort, but there were no survivors."
Two women believed to be residents of the neighborhood were being treated at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital for what were described as non-life-threatening injuries, hospital spokesman Michael Hughes said.
They were transported by ambulance at approximately 11:35 p.m.
The crash came less than a month after a US Airways pilot guided his crippled plane to a landing in the Hudson River off Manhattan, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard. Birds had apparently disabled both its engines.
On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people.
Continental's release said relatives and friends of those on Flight 3407 who wanted to give or receive information about those on board could telephone a special family assistance number, 1-800-621-3263.
Yes people die every day from fires and such but as this was a commuter plane crash i figured it was a bit more important news. Especially since its in the US, where airplane crashing fears are really high after 9/11.(And also obviously because this crash occurred in the state of New York.)
Just wondering your guys take on it and wondering if you think itll shoot up more fears that are already high in the US. Not every day you see a plane crash, one with more than 1-2 people on it at that.
(No Survivors)
BREAKING NEWS — A commuter plane crashed into a suburban Buffalo home and erupted in flames late Thursday, killing all 48 people aboard and one person on the ground, authorities said.
Flames silhouetted the shattered home after Continental Connection Flight 3407 plummeted into it around 10:20 p.m. The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft, operated by Colgan Air, was flying from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in light snow, fog and 17 mph winds.
It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner took off from a Lexington, Ky., runway that was too short.
"The whole sky was lit up orange," Bob Dworak, who lives less than a mile from the crash site, told The Associated Press. He said that residents of the neighborhood, about 10 miles from the Buffalo airport, were used to planes rumbling overhead, but he took note Thursday night when one sounded louder than usual, sputtered and made some odd noises.
PHOTOS: Fire and Wreckage From the Crash Scene
VIDEO: Amateur Video Captures Crash Scene Inferno
Doug Hartmayer, a spokesman for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority that operates the airport, said it was unknown if the airport reported any trouble.
"There is an extensive investigation as we speak," Hartmayer said. "There was very little or any communication before the crash."
"The plane simply dropped off the radar screen," he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board planned a 4 a.m. news conference in Clarence; Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency would join a team investigating the scene at sunrise.
Witness Tony Tatro said he saw the plane flying low and knew it was in trouble.
"It was not spiraling at all. The left wing was a little low," he told WGRZ-TV.
Before the crash, the voice of a female pilot on Flight 3407 can 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 www.liveatc.net. Neither the controller nor the pilot exchanges 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.
Then the controller asks the pilot of a nearby Delta Air Lines plane to see whether he can see the Continental flight. The Delta pilot says no.
About three to four minutes after that, 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."
Later, he tells all aircraft monitoring the same frequency: "We did have a Dash 8 over the marker that didn't make the airport. He appears to be about five miles away from the airport."
The newest member of Bombardier's Dash-8 class aircraft, the Q400 had its first flight in 1998 and entered commercial service in February 2000.
Houston-based Continental Airlines issued a statement saying that preliminary information showed the plane carried 44 passengers and a crew of four.
"At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air's accident response team are being mobilized and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them," the statement said.
Chris Kausner of Clarence, believing his sister was on the plane, rushed to a hastily established command center after calling his vacationing mother in Florida to break the news.
"To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I've never heard before. So not good, not good," he told reporters.
He told The Buffalo News his sister, Ellyce, was a law student at Florida Coastal University in Jacksonville and on her way home for a visit.
Clarence emergency control director Dave Bissonette says the crash also killed one person on the ground.
Clarence is a growing eastern suburb of Buffalo, largely residential but with rural stretches. The crash site is a street of older, single-family homes which apparently back up to wooded area.
Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air said in a statement that airline personnel and local authorities were working to confirm the number of people on board and their identities.
Twelve homes were evacuated near the crash site, about 10 miles from the airport. The tail or part of a wing was visible through flames and thick smoke that engulfed the scene. While the fire was contained, smoke still billowed over the scene about four hours later. Houses in the neighborhood are only about 20-25 feet apart.
"The fact that the damage is limited to the one residence is really amazing," said state police spokeswoman Rebecca Gibbons.
As family members of the victims trickled in to the airport in the overnight hours, they were escorted by airport personnel to a private area.
Erie County Executive Chris Collins described the crash site as "surreal," with the tail of the plane sticking out of the ground.
The aircraft, carrying 5,000 pounds of fuel, apparently exploded on impact, he said. He said it hit only one home that happened to be next to a firehouse, allowing rescuers to arrive in seconds.
"The firefighters were on that scene immediately, attempting to rescue anyone who could have been rescued," Collins said. "What I've been told is that they got as close to the plane as they could. They were shouting out to see if there were any survivors on the plane. Truly a very heroic effort, but there were no survivors."
Two women believed to be residents of the neighborhood were being treated at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital for what were described as non-life-threatening injuries, hospital spokesman Michael Hughes said.
They were transported by ambulance at approximately 11:35 p.m.
The crash came less than a month after a US Airways pilot guided his crippled plane to a landing in the Hudson River off Manhattan, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard. Birds had apparently disabled both its engines.
On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people.
Continental's release said relatives and friends of those on Flight 3407 who wanted to give or receive information about those on board could telephone a special family assistance number, 1-800-621-3263.
