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Buffalo Plane Crash Pilots' Final Moments: "Jesus Christ" and Screams
By
Jen Chung
Published May 12, 2009
Modified May 12, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 12, 2009
Modified May 12, 2009
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The National Transportation Safety Board began its three days of meetings examining Continental Flight 3407's fatal crash outside Buffalo this past February. Transcripts of the cockpit voice recorder reveal that Captain Marvin Renslow said, "Jesus Christ!" and swore as he scrambled to right the plane and that co-pilot Rebecca Shaw screamed right before the plane crashed.
Renslow's training is coming under scrutiny. Renslow, 47, apparently failed three FAA proficiency checks before Colgan Air (which operated the Continental flight) in 2005; he only told Colgan about one of the failures. The Buffalo News also reports, "The plane that crashed, the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, includes an unusual feature that increases the speed at which the plane's stall warning system will activate when flying in icing conditions. Colgan never provided pilots with any instruction in that unusual feature until the autumn before the crash, sources said. In addition, Colgan's training program does not include simulator training into how pilots should react when the stall warning system activates."
On the recorder, Shaw is heard telling Renslow, "I've never seen icing conditions. I've never de-iced. I've never seen any. I've never experienced any of that. 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." Shaw also apparently had a head cold and mentions she should have taken a sick day; sources add she may have been fatigued after taking a red eye to Newark for the flight.
The son of one of the victims said, "What the hell was this guy doing flying this airplane? ... It is not the pilot's fault, it's the airline's fault. If I go to the DMV and I can't drive, they won't give me a license."
Tagged
buffalo
Continental Flight 3407
fatal plane crash
Flight 3407
Mavin Renslow
Rebecca Shaw
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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