As reported on WNYC and in the New York Times, a Continental commuter plane from Newark to Buffalo crashed into a house in the town of Clarence, New York. All the people on board the flight and one person in the
house were killed.
My heart goes out to the the families of the victims. The Buffalo News reports that Beverly Eckert, the widow of Sean
Rooney, a Buffalo native who lost his life in the Sept. 11 terrorist
attack on the World Trade Center. She was Co-Chairperson of the group, The Voices of September 11.
Eckert was traveling to
Buffalo for a weekend celebration of what would have been her husband's
58th birthday. She also had planned to take part in presentation of a
scholarship award at Canisius High School that she established in honor
of her late husband.
A team of investigators arrived in
Buffalo on Friday morning.
As a former chief pilot for Colgan Air, and now an aviation safety inspector for the FAA, I’d like to hypothesize, as every one else has.” The aircraft may have been in the “auto- pilot” mode rather than being “hand-flown” were the flight crew could have noticed ice build-up. The autopilot was doing what it should do — keeping the aircraft trimmed and flying level with the crew unaware of how much correction had been applied. When the unaware crew was confronted with either the routine disengagement of the autopilot for the approach or the disengagement because the ‘flying tails’ limits were reached, the aircraft pitched up into a “stall” and spun into the earth.
Of course, Continental Airlines, et al wants to pin this on a dead pilot to avoid consumer fear and avoidance of these smaller, more crash prone prop planes. Wind shirr, icing, and flying in a plane that was checked for mechanical problems prior to the take off (at night) have nothing to do with it.
I have a question for someone who is a pilot or aviation expert. Why has there not been something invented where the edge of the wings are kept warm with some type of device lining the inside of the wing? Seems it would keep ice off in theory.