The NTSB laid the primary blame on the pilots of Colgan Air Flight 3407 for the
crash on February 12 last year that killed 50 people and perhaps more unflattering comparisons between the respective safety standards that prevail at regional airlines and their mainline counterparts. In a report adopted on February 2, the Safety Board determined that the captain of the Colgan Air Bombardier Q400 inappropriately responded to the activation of the stick shaker, which led to an aerodynamic stall from which the airplane did not recover.
Operating as Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J., to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the 74-seat turboprop carried 45 passengers and four on-duty crewmembers when, after the airplane descended to about 2,300 feet, ATC lost contact with the pilots. FDR data shows that the Q400 pitched up at an angle of 31 degrees, then down to 45 degrees, followed by a 46-degree roll to the left, then a 105-degree roll to the right. The airplane fell the last 800 feet in five seconds, before crashing onto a single house in the suburban town of Clarence Center, N.Y., killing one of the residents.
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