Sputtering heard before plane crash; 50 dead

by billwilson2002 | February 14, 2009 at 12:26 am

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Friday, February 13, 2009 3:27 PM EST

Sputtering heard before plane crash; 50 dead

By John Wawrow
Associated Press Writer

CLARENCE - A commuter plane “basically dove” into a house while coming in for a landing outside Buffalo, sparking a fiery explosion and killing all 48 people on board and one person on the ground.

It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the U.S. in 2 1/2 years.

Witnesses heard the twin turboprop aircraft sputtering before it went down in light snow and fog around 10:20 p.m. Thursday. Flames silhouetted the shattered home after Continental Connection Flight 3407 plummeted into it around about five miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport.