WASHINGTON — The crew of Continental Connection Flight 3407 violated federal regulations banning extraneous conversation or activities on approach to landing, prompting the airline that managed the doomed flight to later warn pilots against idle chatter and other inappropriate actions in the cockpit.
Sources with knowledge of the National Transportation Safety Board investigation said the probe will show that the pilot, Capt. Marvin D. Renslow, and co-pilot, Rebecca Lynn Shaw, violated federal rules that require a "sterile cockpit" when a plane is flying below 10,000 feet. Renslow piloted the plane that crashed in Clarence on Feb. 12, killing 50.
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Renslow, 47, failed three Federal Aviation Administration proficiency checks before joining Colgan in 2005, sources confirmed this morning.
While pilots often fail those tests once or twice, "it is fairly uncommon to fail three," said a source with knowledge of the safety board investigation of the crash. "That's a little high. But then, why did they hire him?"
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Listening to the news, I heard that the pilot did the exact OPPOSITE of what he should have done in the situation. The airspeed was too slow ~~ which caused the stall ~~ and he pulled back on the stick. He should have pushed the stick forward to incease the airspeed.
Wow...how sad...50 people dead because the carrier used a pilot who was less than what he should have been. I also heard that the pilot had not been re-tested for a considerable time prior to the crash and he had been up very late the evening prior to this flight.
How very, very sad...