Some details came out this weekend regarding how the Continental Connection flight 3407 en route to Buffalo, New York crashed. Apparently the plane descended twenty times faster than normal — falling 800 feet in 5 seconds.
The following events were reconstructed from the flight data recorder recovered at the crash site, per Buffalo News:
The pilot and first officer heard a warning tone, signaling that the autopilot had automatically disengaged.
Instead of easing toward the landing strip at a gradual descent, the nose of the plane suddenly pitched up at a 31-degree angle, far steeper than what’s normal for a plane during takeoff.
At that point, it appears that the crew took over from the autopilot and rammed the throttles all the way forward, trying to prevent the plane from stalling.
Seconds later, the nose of the plane dipped dramatically. At the same time, the plane rolled to the left, its left wing dipping and the right wing pointing up. Then the plane rolled even more dramatically to the other side.
Inside the cabin, passengers and crew felt a gravitational pull of two Gs, twice the force of gravity.
The wings then came back toward level flight. But the nose of the plane still pointed down, and the plane was pointed in the opposite direction from the airport. It had reversed direction.
Continental Connection Flight 3407 also was dropping nearly 20 times faster than normal … falling 800 feet in 5 seconds. The last recorded data showed the plane 250 feet above ground level, at 115 mph, less than 5 seconds before impact.
Finally, the plane hit flat on the ground, igniting a fireball that took the lives of all 49 people onboard and one in the Clarence Center house it struck.
Four people on the plane work for the same company I do — out of Buffalo, New York. I don’t know them personally, but my heart goes out to the families.
May God bless them and keep them. May God make his face to shine upon them, and be gracious to them. May God lift up his countenance upon them, and give them peace.
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