As pilots chatted, plane fell to unsafe speed before Buffalo crash

WASHINGTON -- The pilots of a commuter plane that crashed into a Buffalo neighborhood in February chit-chatted with each other and seemed oblivious as the plane slowed to a dangerous speed, according to a transcript of the cockpit recorder released Tuesday.

The final moments reveal for the first time how the pilots on Continental Connection Flight 3407 shared small talk about their careers and icy weather conditions just before the plane gyrated out of control and slammed into the ground, killing 50 people.

"You know, I'd've freaked out," first officer Rebecca Shaw says, less than five minutes before the plane crashed on Feb. 12. "I'd have, like, seen this much ice and thought, oh my gosh we were going to crash."

The transcript shows that Capt. Marvin Renslow, 47, and Shaw, 24, were inattentive during a critical phase of the flight as they prepared to land. Thousands of pages of other documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board suggest they may also have suffered from lack of sleep and inadequate training. The documents show that icing did not cause the crash.

After chatting, neither pilot realized they had reduced speed. The plane slowed 57 mph in less than 30 seconds, falling below the required minimum speed of 166 mph in icy weather.

What happened next doomed the flight. The plane's "stick shaker" — a device that warns pilots when a plane gets too slow — activated, violently vibrating the control column. Renslow then pulled the plane into a climb, slowing it even more.

"Jesus Christ," he said as the plane rolled violently.

The crash in Clarence Center, N.Y., killed all 49 people aboard the flight and a man in a house — the first fatalities on a mid- or large-sized airline in nearly 2½ years. The flight was operated by Colgan Air under contract.

Pilots are prohibited from talking about anything unrelated to their flight during critical operations below 10,000 feet.

The rule is "sacrosanct" because so many accidents have involved inattention by pilots, said Michael Barr, an aviation instructor at the University of Southern California.