Commuter Plane, From Newark, Crashes in Buffalo; 50 Dead

that plane went down less than five miles from the house i grew up in, where my parents still live.

but the phrase, "it really hits home" is horribly inappropriate in this case...

NYTimes is reporting that the wife of a 9/11 victim was on board and she was on her way to present a scholarship award at her husband's native high school that she created on his behalf. So sad :(

I heard that ice on the wings caused the plane to lose lift and simply drop out of the sky. Perhaps the same lake effect that causes all the snow in Buffalo causes ice on the wings of aircraft. Whatever the cause, thoughts and prayers to the victims and families.

Lake effect simply means that the warm water of Lake Erie interacts with a cold front, causing the front to pick up a bunch of precipitation and dump snow when it reaches land. I don't know if Lake Erie is frozen right now, but if it is, there's no lake effect storms at all. And ice has nothing to do with it. Other pilots and meteorologists reported fog and some cloud cover, and possibly some ice on the wings. I imagine humidity/fog plus cold temperatures might be responsible for ice. But a lot of other planes landed safely at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport yesterday, so it could have been another error, or just wrong time/wrong place.

"I heard that ice on the wings caused the plane to lose lift and simply drop out of the sky."

No one could possibly know that yet, but it is a possibility. It doesn't happen often; wing contamination from ice is more a concern on takeoff because it accumulates while the plane is parked on the ground. In flight there are "de-icing boots" on the wings that normally can take care if it.

One thing that will be interesting to find out (and we might know before the official determination of cause) is whether the plane had been in a holding pattern pattern for a time before the crash. That could increase tne possibility of ice contamination: lower speed flight at lower altitudes for an extended time. That's what happened several years ago with the crash of an ATR-72 (also a turboprop. This isn't likely to happen with jets because they can direct heated air over the wings) in Indiana. But there were also found to be design flaws with that plane that contributed to the problem.

The flight recorders have been recovered, so eventually we'll know. Of course, the NYSB usually takes about a year to release a final report.

Other planes, asked by the tower immediately after the crash, reported some amount of ice accumulation:

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/578112.html

It was a Q400, not a Q100.

/aviation nerd

Thank you—I misheard the person speaking during the press conference.

It's so sad. Around 12:30 a.m. or so, the media was interviewing this young man whose sister was aboard the slight. And one reporter was asking particularly stupid questions, and the victim's brother was remarkably nice—maybe in shock—if I were going through that emotion, I don't know if I would have been able to keep it together. He said he had to call his mother to tell her, and that she made a noise he never heard before.

I heard on CBS that there are no survivors.

r.i.p.

Signs You Live in a Third World Country: Commercial airplanes are crashing like crazy along with your economy.

Signs a person is mathematically illiterate: Calling one plane crash "commercial airlines are crashing like crazy".

Actually, it's the first commercial crash in in the United States in over 2 years. I'd say the odds are pretty good that we're relatively safe.

not a fan of the Moors murders

Bummer.

guess you can call this one the Bummer in Buffalo

What shall we call you?

Tragic, considering people are still celebrating the amazing landing in the Hudson River just a month ago.

We had an amazing streak there. This is the first fatal commercial crash in the US since 2006, the longest safe period in history.

Weather may not have been a factor. The TV stations aren't calling 49 fatalities but the Buffalo News is correct. No one in the plane could survive. My guess is that this smaller commuter plane was totally gassed up for several short-haul flights: 2+hours after impact, fires are still raging.

wow, I was just on that wgrz site yesterday.

I just got my free safelink celly. and, of course,

many of my debt collector buddies are in that area.

Best wishes to everybody on board and all family and friends - what a tragedy.