Buffalo Niagara International Airport - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

A list of incidents involving flights near or en route to Buffalo Niagara International Airport:

  • 1972 - A private plane crashed into a home on Diane Drive in Cheektowaga, New York near Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The crash killed three on board and three on the ground.
  • June 12, 1972 - American Airlines Flight 96, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 en route from Detroit to Buffalo suffered an explosive decompression and was forced to return to Detroit.
  • December 1, 1974 - Northwest Airlines Flight 6231, a Boeing 727 chartered to pick up the Baltimore Colts in Buffalo crashed near Thiells, New York. The flight departed John F. Kennedy International Airport with only the cockpit crew on board. The pitot tube heat was not turned on and the pitot tube iced over during climb out making the airspeed readings unreliable. The plane stalled passing 23,000' and the crew was unable to regain control. All 3 crewmembers on board were killed.
  • February 12, 2009 - Colgan Air Flight 3407, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 operating under contract with Continental Connection crashed into a home on Long Street in Clarence Center, New York. The flight from Newark Liberty International Airport was scheduled to arrive at Buffalo International Airport and was only approximately 6 miles away from the airport when it crashed. All 49 passengers and crew members on board the aircraft perished in the incident, along with one individual who resided in the home the aircraft crashed into. Two others who were in the home at the time of the accident escaped alive. Minutes before the accident, the crew had reported “significant ice buildup” on the wings and the windshield and an NTSB official said that the aircraft had experienced "“severe pitch-and-roll excursions" 40 seconds prior to the crash. This was the first fatal accident of an airliner on US soil in almost 3 years after the crash of Comair Flight 191.
  • May 18, 2012 - Piedmont Airlines pilot Brett Dieter was arrested at Buffalo Niagara International Airport after a loaded Smith and Wesson .357 magnum revolver was found in his baggage prior to his scheduled flight between Buffalo and LaGuardia Airport.

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Famous quotes containing the word incidents:

    An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.
    Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)