Plane Crash In New York State, 9/11 victim's wife aboard. Options

[Omega892R09]

I am not about to hypothesise but others here may be able to fill in any blanks:

Plane crash in NY state kills 49 - BBC

[Ricochet]

Final communications.
Source. http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/p...transcript.aspx

Final communications of flight 3407: audio, transcript
Posted: February 13, 2009, 8:08 AM by Shane Dingman
World
The following is a transcript of this audio recording of communications between the air traffic control tower and Continental Connection flight 3407 before it crashed Thursday evening into a house near Buffalo, N.Y.




“COLGAN 3407 DESCEND AND MAINTAIN 6,000.

COLGAN 3407 DESCEND AND MAINTAIN 5,000.

5,000, COLGAN 3407.

COLGAN 3407 DESCEND AND MAINTAIN 4,000... COLGAN 3407 DESCEND AND MAINTAIN 2,300...

3407.

COLGAN 3407 TURN LEFT HEADING 330.

US TURNING 330, COLGAN 3407.

3407 — 3 MILES FROM COMP TURN AND ONE HEADING T60 MAINTAIN 2,300 TILL STATUS LOCALIZING — PRESSURE ONLY 23.
WITH 260 2,300 TILL ESTABLISH AND CLEAR TO (INAUDIBLE) REPORT COLGAN 3407.


COLGAN 3407, CONTACT 120.5 — HAVE A GOOD NIGHT.


3407.
COLGAN 3407, APPROACH.
COLGAN 3407, BUFFALO.
COLGAN 3407, NOW APPROACH.

Editor's note: At this point the air traffic controller has lost contact with flight 3407, and attempts to contact another flight to see if it can re-establish visual contact:


DELTA 1998: LOOK OUT YOUR RIGHT SIDE ABOUT FIVE MILES FOR A DASH-8. SHOULD BE 2,300. YOU SEE ANYTHING THERE?
UHH, NEGATIVE, DELTA 1998 — WE’RE JUST IN THE BOTTOMS AND NOTHING ON THE T-CASTS.
COLGAN 3407 BUFFALO.
COLGAN 3407 BUFFALO, IT’S ARHIDEY HERE.
STANDBY — THERE’S SOME GROUND COMMUNICATION — YOU NEED TO TALK TO SOMEBODY AT LEAST 5 MILES NORTHEAST. ‘K — POSSIBLY CLARENCE? THAT AREA RIGHT IN
THERE. ACRINARIA... EITHER STATE POLICE OR SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT. YOU NEED TO FIND IF ANYTHING IS ON THE GROUND. THIS AIRCRAFT WAS 5 MILES OUT — AND ALL OF A SUDDEN WE HAVE NO RESPONSE FROM THAT AIRCRAFT.
ALL I CAN TELL YOU IS THAT THE AIRCRAFT IS OVER THE MARKER — AND WE’RE NOT TALKING TO HIM NOW.
THIS IS (INAUDIBLE)... WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO GET RIGHT BACK TO YOU, SIR. APPARENTLY WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY AND I’LL GET BACK AS SOON AS I CAN.
OK — FELLOW AIRCRAFT — THIS FREQUENCY... WE DID HAVE A DASH-8 OVER THE MARKER THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE AIRPORT. HE APPEARS TO BE ABOUT FIVE MILES AWAY FROM
THE AIRPORT. DELTA 1998 — I’M GOING TO BRING IN SURROUNDING APPROACH, UM, IF YOU COULD JUST GIVE ME A HIGHER-UP, WHEN YOU GET TO 2,300 AND UH, IF YOU
HAVE ANY PROBLEM WITH THE LOCALIZER OR ANYTHING — LET ME KNOW. HOWEVER, WE’RE SHOWING IT ALL IN THE GRAIN HERE.
HEY — THIS IS 1452. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. I APPRECIATE IT. CONTACT 120.5.
POWER TO CACTUS: DID YOU FIND COLGAN?
UMMMM, UNFORTUNATELY HE SAID HE WENT DOWN ABOUT... RIGHT OVER THE UH, MARKER.
POWER CACTUS: UH, 1452 IS COMING UP ON COMPTON. WE JUST SAW THE GROUND. YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON?
CACTUS, IT’S 1452 BUFFALO TIRE WINTER 26014, AND WAIT 23 TO COURE D’ALENE — YES, SIR, WE ARE AWARE.
OK.

Editor's note: Now a second Colgan turboprop approaches, and the flight controller asks if he wants a different approach to the landing.


COLGAN 3268 APPROACH.
SIR, I NEED YOU TO PREPARE YOURSELF. UM, COMPANY-DASH 8 IN BOUND — WE THINK WENT DOWN OVER THE OUTER MARKER. UMMM, WE’RE NOT SURE WHY. I’M NOT SURE IF YOU WANT TO TRY AND REPROACH. SINCE THEN, WE’VE HAD MORE AIRCRAFT GOING — THEY WERE ALL JETS.
3268.
SIR, IT WAS ANOTHER DASH-8 APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES AGO — AND WE’RE NOT SURE WHY.
UHHHH... CAN YOU... UH, CLARIFY THE, UHH, THE DASH-8? UHHH, WHAT, UMMM, HOW DO YOU MEAN IT WENT DOWN?
HE DIDN’T MAKE THE AIRPORT. HE WAS CLEAR FOR THE APPROACH, HE WENT OVER THE TOWER, HE DIDN’T CALL THE TOWER — BASICALLY HE EXITED DOWN... AND WE COULDN’T GET A HOLD OF HIM IN HIS REPORT. HE’S, UH, WENT DOWN OVER FIVE MILES NORTHWEST OF THE AIRPORT.
UHH, YEAH — WE’LL SHOOT THEIR PURSE STILL.
TELL THEM 3268, ROGER... THERE HAVE BEEN FOUR POINT SHOOTING APPROACHES AND UH, SO, JUST TO LET YOU KNOW. COLGAN 3268 — HE’S SENDING YOUR DISCRETION
MAINTAIN 3,500. AIRCRAFT DO REPORT ONCE THEY GET TO ABOUT 2,300 — AND THEY’RE OUT (INAUDIBLE)
ALL RIGHT — 3,500 IS COOL FOR 3268.”