Plane That Crashed Was Almost New
The commuter plane that crashed in a fiery heap outside Buffalo, N.Y. Thursday night, killing all 48 people on board and one on the ground, had only been in service for one year, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reported on The Early Show Friday.
The craft used for Continental Connection Flight 3407 was a 74-seat Q400 turboprop built by the Canadian company Bombardier, and operated by Colgan Air.
The Dash-8 model, Cordes says, had a strong safety record, with no fatal crashes in the U.S.
Back in 2007 though, the landing gear on some Scandinavian Airlines Dash-8s collapsed three times in two days, prompting that carrier to permanently remove all its Dash-8s from service. They comprised almost a fifth of its fleet. The move, Cordes notes, put a crimp in sales of the aircraft for a time.
But landing gear doesn't appear to have been a problem in Thursday's case. The plane was still several miles out from the Buffallo airport when it crashed in light snow.
Aviation expert Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Friday, "It was a new plane. And the landing gear collapses ... in Sweden ... (ocurred) on landing. And this ... tragedy took place well before the landing gears would have had any involvement. So my guess is that's probably not got anything to do with it."
Details on Bombadier Q400 (DH4)
Source: Colgan Air
74-seat twin turboprop in single-class, four abreast configuration
Jet-like speed with state-of-the-art avionics
Performance profile allows operations below and away from congested airspace
"Q means Quiet" with advanced noise and vibration reduction
Full size cabin with 32" seat pitch and 6'5" of headroom
Two flight attendants for passenger safety and comfort
Continental Airlines short and medium haul in-flight service offerings
Arrives and departs at Terminal C at Newark Liberty Airport
Length 107' 9"
Height 27' 5"
Wingspan 93' 3"
Passengers 68-78
Engines 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. PW150
360 kts (414 mph)
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. The craft used for Continental Connection Flight 3407 was a 74-seat Q400 turboprop built by the Canadian company Bombardier, and operated by Colgan Air.
The Dash-8 model, Cordes says, had a strong safety record, with no fatal crashes in the U.S.
Back in 2007 though, the landing gear on some Scandinavian Airlines Dash-8s collapsed three times in two days, prompting that carrier to permanently remove all its Dash-8s from service. They comprised almost a fifth of its fleet. The move, Cordes notes, put a crimp in sales of the aircraft for a time.
But landing gear doesn't appear to have been a problem in Thursday's case. The plane was still several miles out from the Buffallo airport when it crashed in light snow.
Aviation expert Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Friday, "It was a new plane. And the landing gear collapses ... in Sweden ... (ocurred) on landing. And this ... tragedy took place well before the landing gears would have had any involvement. So my guess is that's probably not got anything to do with it."
Details on Bombadier Q400 (DH4)
Source: Colgan Air
74-seat twin turboprop in single-class, four abreast configuration
Jet-like speed with state-of-the-art avionics
Performance profile allows operations below and away from congested airspace
"Q means Quiet" with advanced noise and vibration reduction
Full size cabin with 32" seat pitch and 6'5" of headroom
Two flight attendants for passenger safety and comfort
Continental Airlines short and medium haul in-flight service offerings
Arrives and departs at Terminal C at Newark Liberty Airport
Length 107' 9"
Height 27' 5"
Wingspan 93' 3"
Passengers 68-78
Engines 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. PW150
360 kts (414 mph)
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Extension of the flaps on final approach, when ice is present can cause a disproportionate flap extension causing aircraft to roll. With ice, flight control and response can easily be sluggish or inadequate. Ice can prevent the flaps from retracting. In-flight ice buildups are simply lethal and difficult to survive, unless the pilot aborts the landing and can climb up over the precipitation into dry air and let the ice evaporate away while the pilot looks for another airport to land.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Eagle_Flight_4184
The ATR 72 looks very similar, and has very similar anti-ice systems. In spite of the previous good safety record of this particular model (which hasn''t been flying all that long), there may very well be a broader problem with this general type of aircraft that the investigators will nedd to consider.
Posted by JoePack61 "
LOL One fatal accident to date, and it''s time to start banning thinks. We could ban paper too - how many lives have been taken due to fires started using paper.
Posted by JoePack61 at 04:52 PM : Feb 13, 2009
High Aspect Ratio wing... same as on modern soarplanes and considering they don`t have engines...
Posted by daffy64 at 03:09 PM
__________________
LOL
Really? You suspect icing? Boy oh boy that''s some real out of the box thinking there. You''re a smart duck Daffy!