Colgan Air Flight 3407
Scattered aircraft wreckage | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | February 12, 2009 |
| Summary | Stalled and crashed into house during landing approach due to pilot error |
| Site | |
| Total fatalities | 50 |
| Total injuries | 4 |
| Aircraft | |
| A Continental Connection Bombardier Q400 operated by Colgan Air, similar to the one involved in the accident | |
| Aircraft type | Bombardier Q400 |
| Operator | Colgan Air on behalf of Continental Connection |
| IATA flight No. | 9L3407 |
| ICAO flight No. | CJC3407 |
| Call sign | COLGAN 3407 |
| Registration | N200WQ |
| Flight origin | Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark, New Jersey, United States |
| Destination | Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Buffalo, New York, United States |
| Occupants | 49 |
| Passengers | 45 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Fatalities | 49 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Ground casualties | |
| Ground fatalities | 1 |
| Ground injuries | 4 |
Colgan Air Flight 3407 was a scheduled passenger flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York, on February 12, 2009. Approaching Buffalo, the Bombardier Q400, entered an aerodynamic stall from which it did not recover and crashed into a house at 6038 Long Street in Clarence Center, New York, at 10:17 pm EST (03:17 UTC), about 5 miles (8 km; 4 nmi) from the end of the runway, killing all 49 passengers and crew on board and one person inside the house.
The National Transportation Safety Board conducted the accident investigation and published a final report on February 2, 2010, that identified the probable cause as the pilots' inappropriate response to stall warnings.
Colgan Air staffed and maintained the aircraft used on the flight that was scheduled, marketed, and sold by Continental Airlines under its Continental Connection brand. Families of the accident victims lobbied the U.S. Congress to enact more stringent regulations for regional carriers and to improve the scrutiny of safe operating procedures and the working conditions of pilots. The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–216) required some of these regulation changes.
This remained the deadliest aviation accident involving a Bombardier Q400 until the crash of US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 nine years later.