Flight 3407 Crash: ICE?

Edited by Alex Constantine

"Ice accumulation," repeated ad nauseum by the media as cause of the Flight 3407 crash, doesn't hold up so well under scrutiny ...

The "Mainstream" Media Perspective Immediately Following the Disaster in Buffalo:

The Crash of Flight 3407: Ice Buildup the Lead Theory
February 14, 2009

"Clarence Center, NY: While the investigation is ongoing, it appears that ice buildup on the wings remains the likely cause of the horrific plane crash in a town near Buffalo, New York February 12th that claimed the lives of 49 people in the air, and one on the ground. ... "
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/11900/Flight-Bombardier-Ice.html

A few days on, however, the "ice" theory was cracking ...

John Croft, at flightglobal.com, reported on February 18: "Ice only one factor in flight 3407 forensics" - "While icing was initially high on the list of potential causes of the loss of control of a Bombardier Q400 on approach to Buffalo Niagara International airport on 12 February, evidence emerging from on-board recorders and other aircraft in the vicinity at the time is hinting at a more complex chain of events. ... Information from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder as well as air traffic control tapes paint a picture of a relatively normal winter flight for the north-east USA with ice and light snow. Soon after leaving New York Newark, the crew turned on the de-icing system, which uses pneumatic boots on the wing, fin and tailplane leading edges to clear ice. . ... "
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/02/18/322739/ice-only-one-factor-in-flight-3407-forensics.html

"Ice?" - Sabotage Looking More Likely

Flight 3407's De-Icer had Fail-Safe Back-Ups

Someone disabled the de-icer. These don't become non-functional they have redundancy built in, and the light was on, but it obviously was not working, causing the crash as surely as if there was a bomb on board.

My verdict: Sabotage. They wanted to get rid of someone on that plane. So we have to ask ourselves: Who is it that they're not talking about...? That's the person they wanted to kill. My guess is it could have been the woman suing the government over 9-11. ...

http://engforum.pravda.ru/showthread.php?t=241337

Setting Up the "Pilot Error" Cover Story?

Now, in the account published on USAToday, "In December, the agency issued a safety alert because pilots have continued to make the same mistake as the Comair pilots 12 years ago: failing to switch on a plane's anti-icing equipment. ... "
http://usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-02-13-ice-buffalo-crash_N.htm

Blaming the Pilots for "failing to switch on a plane's anti-icing equipment" is erroneous because, "according to the New York Times, 'It has several types of de-icing equipment, including systems for its wings, tail, propeller blades and windshield, which are prompted to operate by automatic sensors"

The De-Icing Systems were "On" when the Plane Crashed

"The NTSB confirmed through their spokesman, Steve Chealander, that the de-icing systems 'were in the ON position' before the aircraft commenced its descent from 16,000 ft to 2,300 ft and remained ON."

http://meltdown101.livejournal.com/26165.html

Pilot Statements re Ice

21:04 - ATC: Delta 1998, you getting any icing where you're at?

21:05 - Delta 1998: uh, we're picking up on the way down - i don't think we're building anymore here, but about uh 6500 down to 3500 maybe?

24:45 - ATC: delta 1998, 6 miles from KLUMP maintain 2300 until established on a localizer, clear to ils approach runway 2-3

24:54 - delta 1998: ILS 2-3 and we're still in the imc here, 2300 delta 1998

25:00 - atc: are you getting any kind of icing or anything there?

25:03 - delta 1998: uhh it doesn't appear to be building, we have a 1/2..1/4 inch from the descent that has remained this whole time.
•••
Continental Express Flight 3407 - Disturbing Parallels
by Andrew Hughes

... What we can gather from the ATC tapes and the flight recorder is that the pilots descended from 16,000ft to their outer marker approach altitude of 2300ft ready to intercept the Instrument Landing System beacon for runway 230 without any report of problems and both pilots evidently not under any stress according to the ATC tapes. Once the aircraft started to line up on approach, it simply vanished off the radar screens with no Mayday or any communication from the pilots. According to the Flight Director logs, once aligned for approach, the plane experienced violent pitching and rolling after the landing gear had been extended and the first stage of flaps had been set but still no communications from the pilots. This would seem to point to both a simultaneous, catastrophic failure in both the de-icing system and communications / transponder systems. There was no mention of any failure by the NTSB of any catastrophic failure recorded on the recovered black box. The de-icing system status indicator in the cockpit remained ON during the entire time. The Bombardier Dash8 Q-400 had been subject to an airworthiness directive in June 2008 about its de-icing system in aircraft built before April 2007. Flight 3047's Q-400 had been built after that date.

http://meltdown101.livejournal.com/26165.html
••
NTSB Claims it will take a FULL YEAR to Determine why the Plane Crashed

From "Investigators Finish Work At Flight 3407 Crash Site," NY1 News: "Although Although the National Transportation Safety Board finished its work at the scene, they are expected to spend at least a year determining the cause of the crash.the National Transportation Safety Board finished its work at the scene, they are expected to spend at least a year determining the cause of the crash."

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/94342/investigators-finish-work-at-flight-3407-crash-site/Default.aspx
•••
Air Traffic Control Transcript

A transcript of the Air Traffic Control tapes was released shortly after the crash which confirmed that the pilots had not reported anything out of the ordinary. They were directed to 2300ft on a heading of 260 degrees for runway 230 with an Instrument Landing System Approach. One minute after the last acknowledgement from flight 3047 "the plane simply dropped off the radar screen". ...