There were legal issues with this plane wreck on 12 FEB 09
https:// www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/did-colgan-mislead-the-ntsb-about-flight-3407/
Washington (CNN) – Confronted with signs that his plane was entering an aerodynamic stall, the pilot of Continental Flight 3407 pulled on the plane's control column when he should have pushed – a simple but inexplicable error that led to the death of 50 people, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled Tuesday evening.
The board's ruling, coming a year after the crash near Buffalo, New York, is stark in its simplicity.
NTSB members say the accident laid bare a complex myriad of safety problems at the nation's regional airlines and some that extend to major carriers. Among the problems:
– Airlines that do not adequately train pilots to handle stalls.
– Pilots who engage in unnecessary conversations during takeoffs and landings.
– Record-keeping systems that allow pilots to conceal failed tests.
– Pilot fatigue.
The safety board issued more than 20 recommendations at the conclusion of the hearing.
"The tragedy in this report is that what we uncovered in this investigation, we already knew," NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said.
"If there's one thing that we take away from this action, it's that history repeats itself," she said.
The accident plane, a Bombardier Dash 8-Q400, was owned by Colgan Air Inc., but it was doing business as a Continental Connection flight when it crashed February 12, 2009, in Clarence Center, New York, about five miles short of its destination, Buffalo-Niagara International Airport.
The safety board said neither the pilot, Capt. Marvin Renslow, nor the first officer, Rebecca Shaw, recognized that the plane was slowing down too quickly, nor did they react properly when the "stick shaker" – a vibrating column that indicates the plane is entering a stall – activated.