Investigators: Pilot Joked, Did Not Follow Procedures Before Fatal Buffalo Plane Crashed

May 13, 2009 8:13 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The captain of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 that crashed in Buffalo earlier this year, killing all on board, had joked with his first officer and reacted the wrong way just before impact, investigators said during a public hearing on Tuesday.

A Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 twin-engine turboprop operated by Colgan Air had crashed on Feb. 12 while approaching a runway at the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. All 45 passengers and four crew members on the plane died from the impact and another person on the ground was killed. The plane had hit a home in Clarence Center, about five miles northeast of the airport.

The crash was the nation's deadliest transportation accident in seven years, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairman Mark Rosenker. And President Barack Obama had issued a statement expressing "deep sad[ness]" and offering condolences to the victims' families.

The NTSB began a three-day public hearing as part of its investigation of the accident. The agency is exploring areas that may have caused it, including the de-ice system on the plane, crew experience, fatigue management and stall recovery training.

Visibility was three miles and there was light snow and mist the night flight 3407 left Newark for Buffalo, investigators revealed during the hearing.

The captain, 47-year-old Marvin Renslow, had joked with his first officer, 24-year-old Rebecca Shaw, minutes before the crash, according to transcripts. Federal rules prohibit non-essential conversation when a plane is below 10,000 feet.

The two also spoke about icing conditions, with Shaw expressing concern that she has "never seen icing conditions. I've never de-iced. ... I've never experienced any of that."

She added, "I don't want to have to experience that and make those kinds of calls. You know I'd've freaked out. I'd have, like, seen this much ice and thought, oh my gosh we were going to crash.' "

Renslaw had said that he was "now more comfortable" with his ability to respond to such conditions, but three minutes later reacted the wrong way to a warning system called a stick shaker that switches off autopilot and informs the pilot that the plane is about to stall.

Instead of increasing speed and keeping the plane's nose down, he raised the nose up and slowed down, causing the plane to roll, stall and eventually crash.

The investigation also pointed to questions about the training of the two pilots and rest they got before the day of the flight.

Renslaw had failed four competency tests conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA and two others administered by Colgan Air. He received his commercial pilot license in 2002 and was hired by Colgan Air in September 2005. He had logged a total flight time of 3379 hours, including 110 hours on a Dash 8.

Shaw got her commercial pilot license in 2005 and was hired by Colgan in January 2008. She had "commuted through the night" from Seattle to Newark before the flight, according to the NTSB.

Renslaw, who had commuted from Tampa, had been "seen sleeping in the crew room." He had logged onto CrewTrac, an airline computer system, at 3:00 am and at 7:30 am on the day of the crash.