No trouble call from Colgan to air traffic control

[babylonsister]

No trouble call from Colgan to air traffic control

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The pilot of a doomed commuter plane didn't report any trouble to air traffic control before it crashed outside Buffalo, N.Y., but air traffic controllers quickly established that ice was building up on nearby planes also converging to land there.

A recording of air traffic control radio transmissions Thursday night shows that a tower controller at Buffalo and one at Buffalo's Terminal Radar Approach Control center (TRACON) tried repeatedly but unsuccessfully to raise Continental Connection Flight 3407 just after the Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 twin turboprop operated by Colgan Air was handed off from the TRACON to the tower for landing at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The TRACON is located several floors below the tower controller at the airport.

In the recording, available at http://www.LiveATC.net , the controllers refer to the commuter plane as Colgan 3407 and as a Dash-8. The crash occurred about 10:20 p.m. EST. The times of the voice transmissions below are approximate.

10:15:10 - ... 3407. Three miles from (unintelligible). Maintain 2,300 until (unintelligible) Runway 23.

10:15:17 - (Female voice on 3407 acknowledges).

10:16:02 - Colgan 3407 contact tower (unintelligible). Have a good night.

10:16:07 - (calm female voice) 3407. (This appears to be the handoff of 3407 from the TRACON controller to the tower controller for landing.)

10:17:04 - Colgan 3407. Approach. (The TRACON tries to raise the plane.)

10:17:20 - Colgan 3407. Buffalo. (The Buffalo tower tries to raise the plane.)

10:17:25 - Colgan 3407. Approach.

10:17:33 - Delta 1998 look out your right side about five miles for a Dash-8. It should be about 2,300 (feet). Do you see anything there?

10:17:41 - Negative. Delta 1998. ...

10:17:50 - Colgan 3407. Buffalo.

...

10:20:11 - Colgan 3407. Buffalo tower. How do you hear?

...

10:20:28 - (Unintelligible). Ground communication, you need to talk to somebody at least five miles northeast. Possibly Clarence. That area right in there. Akron area. Either state police or sheriff's department. You need to find out if anything is on the ground. This aircraft was five miles out and all of a sudden we have no response from that aircraft.

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