Trailing what would become a fatal flight by some 27 minutes, the same kind of aircraft operated by the same airline traveled the same route last week and landed safely, the NTSB said Monday. Only a few pieces of the Continental Connection Dash 8 turboprop were recognizable after the crash.
The pilot of the second Continental Connection flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York, reported "moderate icing" during the trip and "made it to destination in Buffalo," said Steve Chealander of the National Transportation Safety Board.
The second plane was a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, like the plane that crashed Thursday night near the Buffalo airport, killing 49 people on board, including four Jamaicans, and one person on the ground. Also like the fatal flight, the aircraft was operated on the Continental Connection route by Colgan Air, Chealander said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/16/buffalo.crash.ntsb/index.html#cnnSTCText |