Fifty people were killed when a plane crashed into a house near Buffalo, New York, and burst into a ball of flames late last night.
The plane, a Continental Connection flight operated by Colgan Air, was on a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo with 44 passengers, four crew, and one off-duty crew member on board when it crashed in the Buffalo suburb of Clarence Center amid rain and sleet, officials said.
All 49 on the plane died, and one person on the ground was killed.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane crashed 10 km short of the airport.
Early indications suggest that a build up of ice could have played a part. Following the accident, at least two pilots were heard on air traffic control talking of having ice on their wings. “We’ve been getting ice since 20 miles south of the airport,” one said.
The problem can alter a plane’s aerodynamics and interfere with lift and handling
- it is a well known hazard for pilots.
Colgan Air said in a statement that the plane was a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400. The plane is a turboprop regional aircraft that can carry more than 70 people, and is made by Bombardier. Colgan Air is a subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines
Colgan Air said the plane, Continental Airlines Flight 3407, crashed at about 10:20 pm. The company did not give any details of fatalities.
"There is nothing left of the fuselage or the wings," witness Stephen Wallace told MSNBC from the crash site.
The tail section was sticking up from a crater, he said. He cited several witnesses as saying there were flames coming from the plane before it crashed.
One person who heard the crash from about 1 km away, said the crash sounded like an earthquake.
"It was almost like on TV where you hear this high pitched sound. It was like an earthquake. You could feel it," the witness, Keith Burtis, told MSNBC.
The crash came less than a month after the successful crash landing of a US Airways jetliner on the Hudson River in New York City. All 155 people on board survived after the plane struck birds that were sucked into both engines and pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger brought the plane down on the river. Passengers and crew were rescued by ferry boats.
Reuters