Commuter plane crashes into house in New York, killing 49

[malaise]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5723136.ece
<snip>
All 48 passengers and crew, plus one person on the ground, were killed when a plane crashed into a house outside Buffalo, New York on Thursday and burst into flames.

Continental Airlines flight 3407 crashed at 10:20 pm (0320 GMT) in the town of Clarence Center, New York, about five minutes before it was due to land at the Buffalo airport.

The plane, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 operated by Virginia-based Colgan Air, was flying from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in light snow, fog and 17 mph (27 kph) winds.

Rebecca Gibbons, a NY state police spokeswoman, said that there were 48 people on the plane and "there were no survivors". A county official had earlier confirmed one fatality on the ground.

[aquart]

1. Beverly Eckert, 9/11 widow, was on the plane.

Just heard on ABC.

[B o d i]

2. That's an odd coincidence, if true.

Will a house down the street implode for no good reason a couple hours from now?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. Why? n/t

[aquart]

5. Well, they said there's nothing left of the plane but the tail.

Because jet fuel is meant to burn HOT.

[malaise]

6. She was one of the activist widows

The wish of a 9/11 widow
Posted 12/5/04

A member of the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 commission, Beverly Eckert, 53, wants "something constructive" to come from the death of her husband, Sean Rooney, in the World Trade Center. After urging Congress to form an investigative commission, Eckert (pictured at a ground zero vigil last week) is now championing intelligence reform legislation that stalled in the House after key Republicans wanted more provisions: no driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, to name one.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/041213/13eckert.peo.htm

[malaise]

3. Just read that on CNN and shook my head

According to the Buffalo News newspaper, one of the crash victims, Beverly Eckert, was the widow of 9/11 terror attack victim Sean Rooney, a Buffalo native. Eckert was traveling to Buffalo for a weekend celebration of what would have been her husband's 58th birthday.

She also had planned to take part in presentation of a scholarship award at Canisius High School that she established in honor of her late husband, the newspaper reported.

Her sister, Sue Bourque, said that while the family had not yet received official confirmation of her sister's fate, the reality was settling in. "We know she was on that plane," Bourque told the newspaper, "and now she's with him."
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/02/13/plane.crash.new.york/index.html
------------

[KewlKat]

7. They are together again

[malaise]

10. Did they have any kids? n/t

[DinahMoeHum]

20. No. They had no children.

n/t

[cobalt1999]

12. Now the conspiracy loons will see something in this

The dungeon will be busy today.

[BLUSH]

15. re

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

19. Very, very sad

I'm sure Ann Coulter had a nasty comment to make this morning.

[Marrah_G]

8. Oh wow....just wow....

:cry:

[Berry Cool]

9. Terribly sad.

I hate commuter planes.

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. I heard a comment on MSNBC

that said the plane just "dropped" onto the house.
Why would a plane do this if that is correct?? I don't
know enough to hazard a guess.

[malaise]

17. I guess it lost control, power

or both. I have no clue why that happened. It was not on fire and the fire started after it crashed into those unfortunate people's home.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

18. There might be a weather componant here

High wind and freezing rain last night up there.

[KharmaTrain]

13. We've Been Very Fortunate...

Those small commuter planes have always scared me...especially in poor weather conditions. It'll be weeks, probably months, til we learn what really happened. My concern is that the cutbacks in the airlines and shortcuts on maintenance and safety may have had a hand in this thing. Not purposely, but the pressures to "economize" are a sure way to ask for mistakes.

Here's wishing peace for all the families and we get to luck out and not have another catastrophe like this for another few years. Just seems like these things happen in 3s (blame my mother on that theory).

:hi:

[stray cat]

14. 50 people killed - an extra off duty crew member was on board.

scary and tragic

[Fuzz]

16. My sister in law was on a continental flight from newark to buffalo

that landed just before that one. We got a call last night from her to tell us she wasn't on that one, which was great of her to do. She was at the airport for hours because of weather delays.