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Pilot's actions scrutinized in Flight 3407 crash
Larry Neumeister and Ramit Plushnick-Masti - Associated Press
Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: News
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After a seemingly routine flight, the airplane endured a 26-second plunge before smashing into a house in icy weather about six miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport on Thursday night, killing 49 people on the plane and one on the ground.
Though ice has emerged as a possible factor, the cause has remained elusive in part because there was no distress call from the pilot, no mechanical failure has been identified and the plane was so severely damaged.
Shortly before the crash, the crew notified air traffic controllers that there was significant ice buildup on the windshield and wings even though they had turned on the plane's deicing system 11 minutes after leaving Newark, N.J.
National Transportation Safety Board member Steve Chealander drew attention to the crew's actions when he said Sunday that the pilot appeared to ignore recommendations by the NTSB and his employer that the autopilot be turned off in icy conditions. The autopilot remained on until an automatic system warned that a stall could occur, pushed the pilot's yoke forward and shut the autopilot off.
Chealander acknowledged that it was possible that the pilot overreacted by yanking the yoke back, further destabilizing the plane, but he said that was one of an almost unlimited number of possibilities.
Kirk Koenig, president of Expert Aviation Consulting of Indianapolis and a commercial aviation pilot for 25 years, said the airplane may have been in a predicament that would challenge even the most experienced pilots.
For example, if ice were forming on the wings, the pilot would want to put the nose of the plane down and increase power; if the icing were on the tail, the opposite would have been required, pulling the nose up and reducing power.
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