"Long Way to Go" in Crash Probe
By: Kristen Dahlgren, NBC
Updated: February 16, 2009
Outside of Buffalo, New York, investigators are back on the scene of last weeks deadly plane crash.They are trying to figure out what caused the plane to fall into a suburban neighborhood killing all 49 people on board and one on the ground.
This morning at a church near the crash site, the victims of Continental Connection flight 3407 were remembered.
While just a few miles away, investigators were back on the scene.
They are trying to figure out what went wrong and what role icing may have played in the doomed flight.
Investigators say the pilots of 3407 talked about "significant icing"- in spite of the fact the plane's de-icing system had been on for nearly the entire flight.
There are also questions about whether the crew should have been flying with the plane's auto pilot on.
Colgan Air, the operator of the flight, requires pilots to fly manually in severe icing conditions
"If the pilot does not have his hands on the controls when the autopilot is on, all of the sudden the plane can go into a stalled condition from which the pilot might not be able to recover," said former NTSB investigator Greg Feith.
Today some families will get their first look at the crash site but for them now, finding out what went wrong may not be as hard as figuring out how to go on.
