When Colgan Air Flight 3407 Fell Out of the Sky in Buffalo, New York

01/14/24 • 63 min

On the evening of February 12, 2009, Colgan Air Flight 3407 was on final approach to Runway 23 at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Buffalo, New York. It was dark, it was snowing, it was windy and the pilots had noted the accumulation of ice on the wings and windshield of the 78-seat regional airliner. Still, the pilots were not under undue stress as the cockpit voice recorders indicated a casual, unhurried atmosphere, there was even some unrelated chit-chat on the flight deck. Then, just moments before landing, air traffic controllers noticed the plane was no longer on their radar screens. Flight 3407 was down for reasons unknown.

In the post-crash investigation, the most likely cause of the crash – the weather (including the snow, the wind and the ice) was quickly dismissed. If not the weather, then what happened to Colgan Air Flight 3407 that caused it to fall out of the night sky and claim the lives of all on board and one on the ground?

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When a Russian Airliner Flew Into Cuban Power Lines

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On final approach to Havana’s José Martí International Airport in 1977, the Aeroflot Ilyushin IL-62M with 69 people on board, descended below the clouds and the pilot immediately was confronted with power lines between the plane and the runway – and the runway was close. The pilot attempted to pull the nose up to avoid the powerlines, but the emergency maneuver was not enough – the plane clipped the power lines and the steel-reinforced cables severed the vertical stabilizer from the rest of the plane. Rendered uncontrollable, the plane pitched sharply down and to the right, impacting the ground within seconds of contact with the power lines. The plane burst into flames, and though the rear of the fuselage was relatively intact, there were only two survivors.
What, exactly, happened on this day, some 46 years ago? An airliner from one of the world’s largest airlines clipping powerlines? A rookie mistake like this seems impossible. How did – how could – this happen? There aren’t many details, but the Radar Contact Lost team examines the details and tries to fill in the blanks.

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When A Snowy Crash Silenced the Voices of Early Rock and Roll, aka "The Day the Music Died"

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On February 3, 1959, a small, single-engine, 4-passenger plane took off from a remote airfield in rural Iowa. It was after midnight. It was snowing. It was windy. Moments later, the plane rolled over and flew into the ground at approximately 170mph – or about 275 kph. The 21-year-old pilot and the three passengers were killed on impact. The injuries to all four were horrific. This small crash, on a cold winter night, would reverberate through history – not only to this day, but likely until the end of time. But why? Did the pilot make errors? Was the young pilot in over his head? Was he even qualified? Could the plane’s instruments be blamed? Was the weather to blame? And then there’s this: Was there a gunshot onboard that killed the pilot and took the plane down?
In this episode, the Radar Contact Lost team will examine what happened – I’ll start with the weather, but there were other issues – issues that, on their own, might’ve caused the plane to crash even without the complicating factor of snow, wind and darkness. I’ll also look at the pilot and his qualifications. I'll look at the plane and explain its unflattering reputation. I'll talk to pilots for their perspective. And I'll look at the famous musicians whose bright careers were tragically cut short.