Subsonic Radio

for those of you who are not paying attention to the local news (in the Buffalo area) or the National News (like CNN or MSNBC), there has been a plane crash just outside of Buffalo in Clarance Center. It completely destroyed at least one home, and (supposedly) killed everyone on board and at least 1 person on the ground. not too much is known as of right now, they're still trying to put the fires out. If you'd like to keep up on it, you can visit one of these news sties:

local NBC affiliate

local ABC affiliate

local CBS affiliate

CNN story

MSNBC story

Continental Airlines story

Just found out about it and there is not much in details. Appearantly 44 passengers and 4 crew members perished aboard a Bombardier Dash Q400. Plane was less than 1 year old. Very sad story.

js, is this anywhere near you?

Len90 wrote:js, is this anywhere near you?

it's about 10 miles away or so.

as to the news stories - they're saying "about" 44 passengers and 4 crew on board. a State Police spokesperson just came on and confirmed that no one on board survived, and at least 1 person on the ground (in the destoyed house) was killed as well. according to reports, at least 2 people from the house were able to escape, and they had "minor" injuries. News conferences are scheduled for about 4AM eastern, with a possible "mini-update" around 3AM.

Oh my god, I didn't hear about this but that's horrible. I'm going to read the articles about it or see if there is anything on the news here.

Yes we heard about it and we've been praying for the families!

There have been updates, but nobody is sure why it happened.

No, we didn't hear about this. How very sad! The friends and family of all of those that were taken, will be in our prayers.

I heard about this last night right before I went to bed. I just can't believe it. How unfortunate. Everyone is in my prayers.

well, the last update I've heard is that they got the "black boxes" already and sent them to Washington. The audio from the tower has been released which shows absolutely nothing, besides the fact that the tower was having other aircraft look for the plane (as they lost the plane on radar).

So icing is responsible for the crash or are they still investigating the cause of it?

they're still determining exactly what could have happened. what they are speculating is that ice build-up (which was easily taken care of with a special "balloon-like" device, got to be too much for the auto-pilot to handle, and the flight crew was not able to correct the problem in time (as they were so close to the airport). I'm sure they won't release the findings of the investigation for several days, at the earliest.

js3901 wrote:they're still determining exactly what could have happened. what they are speculating is that ice build-up (which was easily taken care of with a special "balloon-like" device, got to be too much for the auto-pilot to handle, and the flight crew was not able to correct the problem in time (as they were so close to the airport). I'm sure they won't release the findings of the investigation for several days, at the earliest.

I personally find this very hard to believe. The engine props are heated and the wings also have a system to remove ice. I'm really interested in what the boxes have to say.

js3901 wrote:they're still determining exactly what could have happened. what they are speculating is that ice build-up (which was easily taken care of with a special "balloon-like" device, got to be too much for the auto-pilot to handle, and the flight crew was not able to correct the problem in time (as they were so close to the airport). I'm sure they won't release the findings of the investigation for several days, at the earliest.

All of a sudden I want to start watching "Seconds from Disaster" with all the investigation going on.

There's a NSTB news conference that is about to happen. they MAY release some findings.

EDIT: they are reporting the initial findings of the recorders

the crew reportedly were talking about ice building up on all surfaces, but the FDR shows the de-icing system was on. the landing gear was extended about 1 minute before the end of the recording, then the plane began pitching and rolling very eractically, after the flaps were extended. they raised the gear, and retracted the flaps, but then the tape ends.