Fiery plane crash in upstate New York kills 49 people

CLARENCE, NEW YORK – A commuter plane “basically dove” into a house while coming in for a landing, sparking a fiery explosion that killed all 48 people on board and one person on the ground, an emergency official said yesterday.

It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the US 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.

“The whole sky was lit up orange,” said Bob Dworak, who lives less than a mile from the crash site. “All of a sudden, there was a big bang, and the house shook.”

The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft, operated by Colgan Air, was flying from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and preparing to land at Buffalo Niagara Airport.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said there is “no indication of any security related event” that brought the plane down.

Six hours after the crash, the task of retrieving remains had not yet begun.

“It’s still a hot scene,” Clarence emergency control director Dave Bissonette said. “The fuselage lies right on the footprint of the house.”

Prior to the crash, the voice of a female pilot on Continental Flight 3407 could be heard communicating with air traffic controllers, according to a recording of the Buffalo air traffic control’s radio messages shortly before the crash captured by the web site http://www.liveatc.net. Neither the controller nor the pilot showed any concerns that anything was out of the ordinary as the airplane was asked to fly at 2,300 feet. – AP