Rogelio “Roy” Samorano
Professor Robert Nullmeyer
AMT 410
16 November 2015
Human factors written analysis: Colgan Air Flight 3407 On February 12, 2009 Colgan Air Flight 3407 was scheduled to fly from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo, New York. The flight was to be made on a Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 model. The aircraft is a two engine turboprop aircraft made for short domestic commuter flights. On this flight there were 45 passengers and a total of four crew members. The crew consisted of two pilots and two flight attendants. The two pilots were Captain Marvin Renslow and first officer Rebecca Shaw. Both pilots had over 2,000 flight hours but were fairly new in their positions. On the night of the flight the weather was forecasted to be poor visibility and icing conditions towards their destination Buffalo. These conditions can be
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The NTSB found several reasons as to why the crash occurred. As stated earlier in the paper the conditions at the destination airport were forecasted to be poor visibility and possible icing. When dealing with icy conditions it can be hazardous to aircraft. This is due to the fact that ice on a wing spoils the airflow over it. This causes a loss of lift, and more drag, which can cause a stall to occur at higher airspeeds. After studying analysis from the fdr (flight data recorder) the NTSB concluded that the de-ice boots were turned on once the crew noticed the ice accumulating on the wings. The de-ice boots inflate to remove ice from the wings. The NTSB then concluded that the ice was not the primary factor of the crash. After further analysis the NTSB found that once the stall shaker activated and the crew noticed it, they made a fatal mistake. Instead of pushing forward on the control column to break the stall they pushed back worsening the stall and making it uncontrollable. This is when the NTSB ruled the primary factor as human factors/human