Flight 3407: Q400 Planes in 13 Other Accidents, Black Boxes Found

by Tina Kells | February 13, 2009 at 10:05 am

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The Continental Connection Flight 3407 plane crash in Buffalo, NY, is already a mystery in the making as questions arise about exactly what happened in the moments leading up to the accident. The black box flight recorders have been found but there is still confusion over why Flight 3407 did not make a mayday call before it went down.

Flight 3407 unexpectedly took a nose dive and plunged to the ground killing all 49 people on board. The plane hit a home at 638 Long Street in Buffalo and killed one person on the ground, bringing the death toll to 50.

The cause of the Flight 3407 crash is unclear but the FBI has issued a statement saying they are confident that it was not terrorism. Current theories range from icing conditions on the wings to unexpected engine failure. All the digital flight data has been collected and the black boxes have been recovered so investigators are confident they will be able to piece together exactly what happened to the doomed flight.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Friday recovered the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from the site of Thursday night's commuter airplane crash in suburban Buffalo, N.Y., ABC News reported on its Web site. Both of the so-called black boxes appear to be in good shape. They contain vital data that might provide clues into the crash of a Q400 Bombardier turboprop plane operated by Continental Express, killing 50 people.

Continental Flight 3407 was a 74 seat Dash 8 Q400 turboprop Bombardier commuter plane and the safety of that model is now being scrutinized. The Dash 8 Q400 commuter plane model has been involved in 13 other accidents worldwide prompting other airlines to remove it from their fleets. The Continental Connection Flight 3407 is the first fatal Q400 plane crash and the first commercial airline fatality in the United States since 2007.

The Bombardier Q400 series of planes has been involved in 13 previous incidents, Bloomberg reports, none of which resulted in deaths. The majority happened during landing, and many centered around landing gear issues.

The parent company of Scandinavian Airlines, as such, grounded its entire fleet of Q400s in 2007. The airline stopped using the planes altogether soon thereafter. Scandinavian said landing gear malfunctions had caused three crashes within a timespan of six weeks.

“Confidence in the Q400 has diminished considerably, and our customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft,” the airline’s president and CEO said in a statement issued in October of 2007. “Accordingly, with the board of directors’ approval, I have decided to immediately remove Dash 8 Q400 aircraft from service.”

The Flight 3407 victims list is being compiled and some names have been released. Among the dead is a September 11th widow, Beverly Eckhert, who is a chairwoman of the organization Voices of 9/11. Eckert and another woman had met with President Obama and other 9/11 advocates exactly one week earlier. President Obama has expressed his deepest remorse at the loss of Eckhert and all the Flight 3407 victims.

"I am horribly saddened by this news," said Valerie Lucznikowska, a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.

Lucznikowska said she, Eckert and another woman traveled to Washington last Friday for a meeting between 9/11 family members and President Barack Obama.

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Obama said Eckert was aboard the doomed airplane. He called her a "tireless advocate" of 9/11 families.

Lucznikowska called Eckert "truly a wonderful person. She was someone who was trying to make society better."