 A Bombardier Q400 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | February 12, 2009 |
| Summary | Stalled and crashed during landing approach[1] |
| Site | Near Buffalo Niagara International Airport Clarence Center, New York, United States 43°00′42″N 78°38′21″W / 43.0116°N 78.6391°W |
| Total fatalities | 50 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Bombardier Q400 |
| Operator | Colgan Air (operating as Continental Connection) |
| IATA flight No. | 9L3407 |
| ICAO flight No. | CJC3407 |
| Call sign | COLGAN 3407 |
| Registration | N200WQ |
| Flight origin | Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark, New Jersey, United States |
| Destination | Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Buffalo, New York, United States |
| Occupants | 49 |
| Passengers | 45 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Fatalities | 49 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Ground casualties | |
| Ground fatalities | 1 |
| Ground injuries | 4 |
Colgan Air Flight 3407 (marketed as Continental Connection Flight 3407) was a scheduled passenger flight from Newark, New Jersey, US to Buffalo, New York, US on February 12, 2009. Colgan Air staffed and maintained the aircraft used on the flight that was scheduled, marketed, and sold by Continental Airlines under its Continental Connection brand. The aircraft, a Bombardier Q400, entered an aerodynamic stall from which it did not recover and crashed into a house at 6038 Long Street in Clarence Center, New York at 10:17 pm EST (03:17 UTC), killing all 49 passengers and crew on board, as well as one person inside the house.[2]
The National Transportation Safety Board conducted the accident investigation and published a final report on February 2, 2010 that identified the probable cause as the pilots' inappropriate response to stall warnings.[3][4][5]
Captain Marvin Renslow, 47, of Lutz, Florida was the pilot in command and Rebecca Lynne Shaw, 24, of Maple Valley, Washington served as the first officer.
Families of the accident victims lobbied the U.S. Congress to enact more stringent regulations for regional carriers and to improve the scrutiny of safe operating procedures and the working conditions of pilots. The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–216) required some of these regulation changes.[6]
At that time of the crash, it was the deadliest aviation disaster involving the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 until the crash of US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 in 2018.[1] As of 2024, this is the last major commercial plane crash in the United States.
- ^ a b Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident de Havilland Canada DHC-8-402Q Dash 8 N200WQ Buffalo Niagara International Airport, NY (BUF)". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
- ^ "Update on NTSB investigation into crash of Colgan Air Dash-8 near Buffalo, New York" (Press release). National Transportation Safety Board. March 25, 2009.
The data indicate a likely separation of the airflow over the wing and ensuing roll two seconds after the stick shaker activated while the aircraft was slowing through 125 knots, and while at a flight load of 1.42 Gs. The predicted stall speed at a load factor of 1 G would be about 105 knots.
Note: The predicted stall speed for this aircraft at a flight load of 1.42 Gs would be about 125 kt, which is arrived at by multiplying 105 kt (the predicted stall speed at 1 G) by 1.19164 (the square root of the flight load in Gs). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
ntsb/aar-10/01was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "'We Shouldn't Stop Flying.' What to Make of the Southwest Plane Accident That Shattered a Remarkable U.S. Safety Record". Fortune. April 18, 2018.
- ^ "How One Crash 10 Years Ago Helped Keep 90 Million Flights Safe (Paid Article)". Bloomberg.com. February 12, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
- ^ "Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010". LegiScan. Retrieved October 26, 2014.