Plane Crash in Buffalo, NY

Plane crashes into suburban Buffalo home; 50 killed

Late Thursday night, a Continental Airlines plane nosedived into a home in suburban Buffalo, New York. All forty-eight passengers, including the crew members were killed. Also, a person in the home was killed, with others having to be rushed to the hospital. According to the Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Williamsville, the four that were injured on the scene were treated and released from the hospital later. They had minor injuries as well as smoke inhalation that the firefighters helped treat.
The Continental Connection Flight 3407, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 74-seat turboprop, operated by Colgan Air, was en route from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo when it went down at around 10:20 p.m. ET. One of the most painful things to deal with is the fact that the plane crash occurred only about seven miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport. These people didn’t have much farther to go to arrive at their destination, which makes it all the more heartbreaking.
Dave Bissonette, Clarence Center's natural disaster services coordinator, said "The only recognizable piece of the plane left is the tail". This makes sense because all of the reports are saying that it went straight down into the house, which would cause the rest of the plane to be destroyed. By this description, the only possible explanation is a nosedive by the plane. The plane crash resulted in a blazing fire that officials are saying will keep the crash site until at least noon on Friday, which is fourteen hours after the crash. Some are trying to figure out just what caused the crash. One thing that is being considered is the mix of sleet and snow in the area when the crash happened. Other planes headed to the airport arrived safely, so officials are very unsure as to the cause.
CNN has listened to a tape of communications between air traffic control and the flight crew. It was determined that the first officer had no sign of stress in her voice. The plane was cleared for approach. About two minutes later, the air traffic controller came back, with stress in his voice. Radar contact was lost. All the evidence will be reviewed in the coming days in further detail.
Area residents were stunned at the uncommon happenings. Area resident Keith Burtis said he was driving to the store about a mile from the crash site when he heard the plane go down. "It was a high-pitched sound," Burtis said. "It felt like a mini-earthquake." Other witnesses told CNN they saw the plane nose-dive toward the ground. "I felt the impact ... sounded like a large explosion," said Brendan Biddlecom, who told CNN he lives two blocks from where the plane crashed. They had to require that twelve residents in the area be evacuated for safety reasons.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the crew, the passengers and our residents on Long Street," said Clarence Supervisor Scott Blylewski.
Thursday's incident is the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since August 2006 when Comair Flight 5191 crashed when it attempted to take off from the wrong runway. A very unfortunate happening has woken this country to a grave reality once again. Hopefully some valuable information will be disclosed and the families will be supported during the trying times.