Flight 3407: The Perfect Gift

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The after effects of Flight 3407 are still lingering in the Town of Clarence, and the local merchants doing business in Clarence Center, just around the corner from the Long Street crash site, are among those who have been directly impacted.

Deb Tangelder is the owner of two stores in Clarence Center and in this interview from WECK’s week long 3407 anniversary coverage, Deb talks about the challenges and the blessings since the tragedy.

Flight 3407: Mike Powers Hometown Heart and Soul

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Mike Powers is a prominent Buffalo attorney. He is a town attorney for the Town of Clarence. He is a community activist of respected reknown, having led the way on issues such as the elimination of the downtown toll barriers. And on February 12, 2009, Powers became the coordinator of all volunteer efforts for the Flight 3407 disaster.

Most of all, however, Mike is a devoted lifelong resident of the Town of Clarence and his love of his community clearly shines through in this WECK Flight 3407 anniversary interview.

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Flight 3407: Doug Hartmeyer and the NFTA

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Following the crash of Flight 3407, the NFTA was put in the challenging position of responding to and dealing with a plane crash that was technically out of their jurisdiction. The further irony was that they possessed the only emergency equipment capable of dealing with of the aftermath.

NFTA Director of Public Affairs, Doug Hartmeyer spoke about the training of the NFTA staff and their response that night and in the days that followed in our WECK weeklong 3407 Anniversary series.

Flight 3407: Coleman Mellett’s Music

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The last of our live interview segments in WECK’s week long Flight 3407 anniversary coverage, covered the 10 mile walk from Long St. to the airport, as well as the overall impact of the anniversary on the WNY Community.

We then completed our live coverage with a moving and very personal interview with Ken Mellett, whose son Coleman boarded Flight 3407 to Buffalo for a concert date that he was scheduled to play with Chuck Mangione and the Buffalo Philharmonic.

One Year Later

It’s weird how people respond to tragedy. For the most part, you have some empathy, and you think it’s sad, but there’s a limit to what you can feel because you’re removed from it all. You never really think it will happen to you.

Well, two miles is close. Two miles is really close, close enough to draw you right into the tragedy, to make you learn what it feels like to be a part of a tragedy. Two miles is close enough to make you pray to God it never, ever happens again.

It’s weird seeing your hometown news channels broadcast on CNN. And to suddenly have to worry if your neighbor, who was at that point going to New York for business every week, might have been on the plane. And to have to text your friends in Boston to let them know that you and everyone you know are OK, but, yeah, you drive by that street a lot.

I had flown home the night before the crash for a long weekend. I was on Facebook before I went to bed and saw someone post something about a plane crashing in Clarence, but I figured it was an exaggeration — it was probably just a transformer blowing up or something. But then, as I was falling asleep, a friend texted me asking where Long Street was. I told him I had no idea — I don’t know street names over there — why was he asking?

“Because a plane just crashed there.”

Holy. $*#%.

I was awake. I barely slept that night. I kept flipping between news channels, looking for new developments, just watching the situation get worse and worse. I fell asleep with the TV on, woke up around 7am and kept watching. The stories, the video, everything was absolutely haunting, especially because, as the passenger list slowly developed and more details came out, it seems like most people in Western New York had some connection to Flight 3407.

I can’t even presume to know what the loved ones of those 50 people are going through. They have experienced more pain than most of us will ever know, yet they’ve been stronger than most of us will ever be. They’re turning this horrible experience into a fight to make sure it will never happen again, and that’s something absolutely amazing.

The hard part, for me, was figuring out how I should feel about that crash. I was fortunate to not be directly connected with anyone who died, but it still upset me. If that plane had landed somewhere else, even gone a few hundred feet in a different direction, it could have been someone I know. Getting on a plane that Monday to fly back to Boston was terrifying. I’m a nervous flier as it is, but when I’m on a small plane now, I get even worse.

Most of us weren’t personally involved, yet it affects us because this is our community. And I think, above anything else, that just means we should support each other, most especially the families of those 50 victims.

So please, do something as small as saying a prayer for all those affected. Keep them in your thoughts. Support the airline safety bills they’re advocating. Hug the people you love, and tell them you love them.

And if you’re of the mindset that this story is no longer news, just skip to the next page or the next channel. There’s no need to comment. But be thankful that it’s that easy for you to forget, because it could have been very different.

Remembering Flight 3407

Image by WNYMedia via Flickr

In memory of the one year anniversary of the crash of Flight 3407, we post the musical tribute “Love Knows no Boundaries” by Christina Abt and Noa Bursie as performed by various area musicians

Call for Explanation of FAA’s Delay Implementing Aviation Safety Reforms

Image by WNYMedia via Flickr

Congressman Chris Lee (NY-26), Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27), and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28) sent a letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Randy Babbitt and FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety Margaret Gilligan calling for a meeting to discuss last week’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on Flight 3407 and to discuss the FAA’s progress in implementing these overdue reforms to aviation safety. The February 2009 crash of Flight 3407 in Clarence Center, New York claimed the lives of 50 people including an expecting mother.

Western New York Representatives Lee, Higgins, and Slaughter have been vocal advocates for the FAA to implement these urgent and much needed aviation safety reforms. As their letter to Administrator Babbitt and Associate Administrator Gilligan states, “The factors that led to the crash of Flight 3407 – including but not limited to crew training and experience, pilot fatigue and regional air carrier practices – have been clearly identified, and each day they are not addressed is another day the flying public is put at unnecessary risk.”

“We echo NTSB Chairman’s Hersman’s remarks that we need to have the FAA address these chronic safety shortcomings with ‘more continuous and persistent action’ or history will again repeat itself with another  crash and more loss of life,” said Karen Eckert of Williamsville who lost her sister and noted 9/11 widow Beverly Eckert. “Hiding behind the complexity of writing federal regulations is not good enough.”

“The NTSB’s report reaffirms what safety advocates have been saying for many years – the FAA needs to immediately begin to address important aviation safety reforms and increase the safety of air travel for the millions of Americans who use it every day,” said Congressman Chris Lee. “I look forward to meeting with Administrator Babbitt and Associate Administrator Gilligan to discuss these important issues.”

“With all of the findings and recommendations released we must work jointly and expeditiously to take what we have learned and use it to implement a safer system for the flying public,” said Congressman Higgins.

“We’ve heard the findings from the NTSB, now we need to put their recommendations into action,” said Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. “I urge the FAA to make these changes swiftly and will gladly meet with Administrator Babbitt and Associate Administrator Gilligan to discuss these issues. Thousands of passenger jets fly across this country every day. Passengers on each one deserve to fly under a system that takes into account what we’ve learned.”

FULL TEXT OF LETTER:

Mr. J. Randolph Babbitt                                              Ms. Margaret Gilligan

Administrator                                                            Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety

Federal Aviation Administration                                  Federal Aviation Administration

800 Independence Avenue, SW                                  800 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington, D.C. 20591                                            Washington, D.C. 20591

Dear Administrator Babbitt and Associate Administrator Gilligan:

We write to you today to request a meeting to review this week’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on Continental Connection/Colgan Air Flight 3407 and to discuss the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) progress in implementing these overdue reforms to aviation safety.

The NTSB concluded that the probable cause of the crash was the crew’s “inappropriate response to the activation of the stick shaker, which led to an aerodynamic stall from which the airplane did not recover.” Contributing factors include the crew’s failure to monitor airspeed or maintain a sterile cockpit, in addition to the regional air carrier’s “inadequate procedures for airspeed selection and management during approaches in icing conditions.” The Board further concluded that the “pilots’ performance was likely impaired because of fatigue.” Fifty people lost their lives in the February 12, 2009 crash in Clarence Center, New York.

The NTSB issued 25 new air safety recommendations to the FAA and renewed its request for action on three previously-issued recommendations, one of which was filed nearly seven years ago. These recommendations, the result of a pain-staking investigative and analytical process, deserve immediate and serious consideration by the FAA. We also note that 18 of the 25 new recommendations are encapsulated in whole or part in H.R. 3371, the Air Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act, which passed the House by an overwhelming bipartisan margin in October.

In our previous correspondence, you stated your Aviation Rulemaking Committee “did not have a recommendation to address (pilot) commuting,” one of the likely contributing factors of the Flight 3407 crash. While we recognize this particular issue requires additional time to address, this should not hinder action on other items such as deficiencies in pilot training and rest requirements, which have been studied and cited for decades in a large number of airline crashes. The NTSB has listed pilot fatigue on its “Most Wanted List” of safety improvements since the list’s inception in 1990. We share the frustration of many that prior NTSB recommendations have fallen on deaf ears, been delayed or otherwise not given sufficient attention.

The factors that led to the crash of Flight 3407 – including but not limited to crew training and experience, pilot fatigue and regional air carrier practices – have been clearly identified, and each day they are not address is another day the flying public is put at unnecessary risk. We appreciate your willingness to work with us on these important air safety reforms, and we look forward to meeting with you to ensure these recommendations are considered and quickly implemented.

Sincerely,

Christopher J. Lee

Member of Congress

Louise Slaughter

Member of Congress

Brian Higgins

Member of Congress

Related articles:

• Special Coverage of Flight 3407: One Year Later (wnymedia.net)
• Flight 3407: Memorial Progess (wnymedia.net)
• Flight 3407: PBS Frontline “Flying Cheap” (wnymedia.net)
• Flight 3407: Jennifer West and Robin Tolsma (wnymedia.net)
• Flight 3407: Linda Weiss, The Broken Heart Tee Shirt (wnymedia.net)
• Pilots at fault in Continental Express crash, investigators say (cnn.com)

Flight 3407: The Empty Chair

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Helping the WNY community deal with the tragedy of Flight 3407 was not Gunella Kester’s purpose when she first decided to compile a book of reflections about those whose lives were lost. Yet in completing The Empty Chair, Gunella learned the greater value of the written word.

Flight 3407: Linda Weiss, The Broken Heart Tee Shirt

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Today (Wednesday), the live interview in WECK’s Flight 3407 anniversary coverage featured Linda Weiss–a Clarence resident, business owner and co-creator of the broken heart tee shirt. Linda and her husband own a tee shirt company and following the crash of 3407, they knew that they wanted to help somehow….and so they did…aided by the WNY Community who purchased 40,000 shirts within weeks of the tragedy.

Flight 3407: Noa Bursie

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Today’s WECK Flight 3407 anniversary coverage focused on the WNY Community and the remarkable ways that people got involved and helped, in a time of tragic need.

Noa Bursie was one of those WNY’ers who gave of her talents and her heart to co-write the song, Love Knows No Boundaries.. It was recorded within two weeks of the crash and sold throughout the community to help raise funds for the creation of a 3407 Memorial. Yet the words and melody delivered a much greater gift.