NTSB: Plane rolled violently before crash

 

 

 

CNN) -- A commuter airliner that crashed Thursday in upstate New York, killing 50 people, underwent violent pitching and rolling seconds before impact, with passengers experiencing twice the normal force of gravity, a federal investigator said Sunday.

Only a few pieces of the Continental Connection Dash 8 turboprop were recognizable after the crash.

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The plane's final 800-foot fall took five seconds, Steve Chealander of the National Transportation Safety Board said.

The aircraft crashed into a home in Clarence Center, New York, near Buffalo, on Thursday night, killing all 49 people aboard. A 61-year-old man in the house died also, but his wife and daughter survived.

Final motions of the aircraft were so drastic that the plane's autopilot automatically disengaged and warnings sounded, Chealander said, citing information from the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders. Also, a "stick-shaker" device, which noisily vibrates an airplane's controls to warn the pilot of imminent stall, kicked in, he said.

The flight crew of Continental Connection Flight 3407, operated by Colgan Air, discussed "significant" ice buildup on the aircraft's windshield and wings before the crash, and icing has become a focus as a possible cause. Follow the plane's path »

Chealander said the plane's de-icing system was turned on 11 minutes after the flight left Newark, New Jersey, for Buffalo, and remained on for the entire flight. He said the pilots were told before departure from Newark that there was "light to moderate icing" in the Buffalo area but that no other pilots had reported problems with their landings at the Buffalo airport.

"It was really not a bad-weather day, and they chose to launch [from Newark]," Chealander said of the pilot and the first officer.