Updated 02/14/2009 08:26 AM
Last few minutes of Continental Flight 3407
NEW YORK STATE -- A Continental Airlines Q-400. A familiar sight at airports. Turbo-props and regional jets are the workhorses of aviation. Their job is a simple one. To ferry passengers to and from smaller airports to large hubs. Normally, a system that's efficient. Normally, a system that is safe.
First Officer Rebecca Lynne Shaw: Buffalo Approach, Cogan 3407, 12 for 11 thousand with Romeo.
Continental Flight 3407, call sign Cogan 3407, was on a routine flight from Newark to Buffalo.
Buffalo ATC: Cogan 3407 descend and maintain 5,000.
First Officer Rebecca Lynne Shaw: 5000. Cogan 3407.
No mayday. No emergency. Just final maneuvers before landing.
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Buffalo ATC: 3 miles from Krump, turn left , heading 260. Maintain 2300 until establish localizer. Clear to approach runway 2-3.
First Officer Rebecca Lynne Shaw: Heading 260, 2300 until establish and clear to approach runway 2-3. 3407.Air traffic controllers waited for a routine call.
Buffalo ATC: Cogan 3407. Approach.
There was no answer.
Buffalo ATC: Cogan 3407, Buffalo.
Instead of the Buffalo Airport, the flight had ended six miles away.
Buffalo ATC: Delta 1998, look out your right side about 5 miles for a Dash 8. Should be 23 hundred. You see anything there?
Delta 1998: Negative Delta 1998.
Buffalo ATC: You need to talk to somebody. At least 5 miles northeast. Possibly Clarence. That area right in there. Akron area. Either State Police or Sheriff's Department. You need to find if anything is on the ground. This aircraft was five miles out and, all of a sudden, we have no response from that aircraft.
Perhaps by coincidence, a potential problem began to emerge in other radio calls.
Airquest 920: Maintain 5000. If we could, we'd like to request a continuous climb up for ice.
Buffalo ATC: You getting any icing or anything there?
Delta 1998: It doesn't appear to be building. We've got about a half inch, or a quarter inch on us from the descent has remained with us the whole time.
US Airways 1452: Cactus 1452 and we've been picking up on ice here for the last, oh, 10 minutes.
Buffalo ATC: Who was that?
US Airways 1452: 52, sir. We've been getting ice since 20 miles south of the airport.
Whether icing was a factor was a question for NTSB investigators. The question for fellow pilots was much more direct.
US Airways 1452: Did you find Cogan?
Buffalo ATC: Unfortunately, they said he went down right over the marker, Krump.