Ice buildup on wings may be a possible cause of US plane crash

"Significant ice buildup" on the wings and windshields could have been a possible cause of the US commuter airliner crashing into a residential complex in suburban Buffalo, killing 50 people, air safety officials indicated on Saturday.
    
Federal investigators have recovered the black box recorders in the plane's tail, which could shed light on what went wrong, but ice buildup, a cause of some major air crashes in the past, can be a possibility, they said.
    
Preliminary information recovered from the flight's cockpit voice and data recorders indicated that the plane underwent "severe" pitching and rolling motions after the landing gear was lowered, Steve Chealander of the National Transportation Safety Board said.
    
The 74-seater twin turboprop bombardier aircraft, a connection flight for Continental Airlines, was flying in light snow from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo Niagara International Airport when it plunged into a house and burst into flames at 10:20 p.m. ET on Thursday (0850 IST on Friday).
    
All 49 people aboard, including the four-member crew, and one person on the ground were killed in the fiery explosion.
    
Among the dead were Beverly Eckert, the widow of a 9/11 victim and an active anti-terrorism campaigner, and Alison Des  Forges, senior Africa adviser for Human Rights Watch.
    
"The crew discussed significant ice buildup, ice on the windshield and leading edge of the wings," Chealander was quoted as saying by the CNN.

After the crew was given permission to drop to 11,000 feet, they saw the ice building up although the aircraft's instruments showed the de-icing system was on.
    
Thursday's incident is the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the US since August 2006, when a Comair flight crashed while attempting to take off from a wrong runway near Lexington in Kentucky.
    
It also came less than a month after passengers of a US Airways plane had a miraculous escape when the pilot managed to land the bird-hit aircraft in the Hudson River in New York.
    
"Our hearts go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones," US president Barack Obama said in a condolence message in Washington.
    
A representative for Colgan Air, which operated the plane for Continental, identified the crew as pilot Capt Marvin Renslow, first officer Rebecca Shaw and flight attendants Matilda Quintero and Donna Prisco. An off-duty pilot, Capt Joseph Zuffoletto, was also aboard.
    
Witnesses heard the plane sputtering before it plunged through the roof of the house, its tail section visible through flames shooting at least 15 metres high. The plane was carrying 2,300 kilograms of fuel.
    
Ice on the wings of a plane can alter aerodynamics and interfere with lift and handling. A similar turboprop jet crash 15 years ago in Indiana was caused by icing, US media reported.