Newsmakers 2009: Colgan Air crash ignites troubling questions for regionals | Aviation International News

Newsmakers 2009: Colgan Air crash ignites troubling questions for regionals

Colgan Air Q400 crashed on a winter’s night in February, killing all 49 people on board and one on the ground

December 28, 2009

When a Colgan Air Q400 crashed on a winter’s night in February, killing all 49 people on board and one on the ground, airframe icing was an early subject of speculation. Reviving memories of Roselawn in 1994, when an American Airlines ATR fell abruptly from a wintry sky while preparing to land, the Q400 crashed into a house on the approach to Buffalo from an altitude of about 2,000 feet on a cold, damp night.

Long before the NTSB published its final report on the accident (it has yet to be released), however, the focus of the investigation broadened beyond icing to include the pilots’ professionalism–or, as revealed by the cockpit voice recorder transcript, their lack of it.

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