NTSB To Hold Public Hearings Into Buffalo Plane Crash

Buffalo, NYThe National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued an update on the Buffalo plane crash that took 50 lives, announcing that ice "had a minimal impact" on the performance of the plane. However, based on other information released by the NTSB, it seems reasonable to say that ice may have set off a chain of events that resulted in the tragic plane crash. Now, the NTSB has said it will hold a public hearing in May to address issues such as icing, crew experience and pilot fatigue as related to the commuter-plane crash.

According to the NTSB, the plane did not experience any mechanical problems and was flying normally just prior to the crash. As the plane was descending toward the Buffalo airport, the onboard stall-warning systems went off, shaking the control column. The NTSB says that the plane's speed had slowed to 150 miles per hour when the stick shaker activated. Investigators believe that this activated the "stick pusher" which angles the nose of the plane down by pushing the control column forward. However, the captain responded to this by pulling back on the controls and adding power. Proper procedure would have been to push forward and lower the nose, as pulling the nose up makes a plane more likely to stall.

With that information, the NTSB will likely examine pilot and crew error as it relates to the plane crash. While icing may not have been the only factor in the plane crash, it may still be the initial event that set off a terrible chain of events, resulting in the plane's crash. Therefore, it is still to early to count out icing entirely as a factor in the crash.

The NTSB's public hearing into the Buffalo plane crash will involve all 5 board members and will take place from May 12 to May 14 in Washington, DC. The hearing will explore safety issues related to the Buffalo plane crash, including icing effect on the airplane's performance, cold weather operations, fatigue management, stall recovery training and sterile cockpit rules.

Sterile cockpit rules refer to FAA regulations that pilots refrain from nonessential conversation and other activities during critical parts of a flight, and always below 10,000 feet. That the sterile cockpit rules have been included in the public hearings is an indication that the flight crew may have been distracted at the time of the crash.

"The tragedy of flight 3407 is the deadliest transportation accident in the United States in more than 7 years," said Mark Rosenker, Acting NTSB Chairman. "The circumstances of the crash have raised several issues that go well beyond the widely discussed matter of airframe icing, and we will explore these issues in our investigative fact-finding hearing."

There have only been 2 similar public hearings in the past 12 years. One in 2002 following the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in a residential New York City neighborhood and the other in 1997 following a fuel tank explosion on TWA Flight 800.

Fifty people died in the Buffalo plane crash—all 49 in the plane and 1 person on the ground, who was in his home when the plane crashed into it. There has been speculation since the tragedy that ice played a major role in the plane crash.