Albert Rios

Missed Class
2 DEC 11

Colgan Air Flight 3407

Continental Connection had a codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines and
marketed its regional flights as Colgan Air. It was a daily United States regional airline
commuter; Colgan Air Flight 3407 was a daily commuter flight from Newark Liberty
International Airport in New Jersey to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York.
On 12 February 2009 the plane N200WQ flying Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed at 2217 local
time. There were many factors to the crash, all of which were things that could have easily been
fixed and would have prevented the crash.
The flight of Colgan Air 3407 was a daily flight from Newark Liberty International
Airport in New Jersey to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York. The aircraft
involved was a Bombardier DHC-8-400, tail signed N200WQ. The aircraft is a high wing twin
engine, medium range aircraft. It has two turboprop engines. It was operating as a connection
flight for Continental airlines through a codeshare, marketed as Continental Connection. There
were forty-five passengers on board and a flight crew of four. The accident caused a total of fifty
fatalities, one of which was on the ground at the time of the crash. There were also four severely
injured persons who were also all on the ground. The accident was caused by a stall due to pilot
error. The actual accident occurred at Clarence Center, New York. It crashed into a residence
approximately five nautical miles to the northeast of the airport. The plane was destroyed upon
impact and a post-crash fire.
The plane crashed due to a stall that occurred within a mile northeast of the locator outer
marker while on an ILS approach to Runway 23 and crashed into a house. The captain received

the warning of the eminent stall by virtue of the shaker stick, a device that shakes the control
yoke and makes a large sound in order to warn the pilot of the stall. He, however, handled the
stall in the wrong way which further added to the stall. One of the contributing factors of the
accident was that the flight crew failed to monitor their airspeed and angle of attack. This is a
basic concept in flight that all students learn right away. They were likely more occupied with
something else that took their attention away from the flight. Another factor was the fact that the
flight crew continually failed in keeping the cockpit a sterile cockpit. The crew kept unnecessary
conversations in the cockpit which only led to the further distraction from the instruments and
task at hand. The captain was increasingly becoming a failure because he was horrible at keeping
the flight managed effectively. The pilot messed up the stall recovery procedure as well, which
alone would have probably prevented the accident. Colgan Air had inadequate procedures for
selecting the airspeed of their flights in the planning phase, as well as management during
approaches in the snow and icing conditions.