WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The pilot of a plane that crashed in February, killing 50 people, did not have hands-on training with a critical safety system aboard the plane and had failed several test rides in aircraft simulators over the course of his career, said sources close to an investigation of the accident.
The sources, who asked not to be named because the National Transportation Safety Board hasn't released the results of its investigation, told The Associated Press that the pilot training provided by the airline - Manassas, VA-based Colgan - for the Dash 8-Q400 Bombardier, a twin-engine turboprop, didn't include a demonstration or simulation of the stick-pusher system.
The stick-pusher automatically kicks in when a plane is about to stall, pointing the aircraft's nose down into a dive so it can pick up enough speed to allow the pilot to guide it to a recovery.
However, when Flight 3407's stick-pusher kicked in on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport the night of Feb. 12, the pilot - Capt. Marvin Renslow - pulled back on the plane's control column, apparently trying to bring the aircraft out of the sudden dive by bringing the aircraft's nose up. Pushing forward to gain speed is the proper procedure.
The activation of a stick pusher can be a jarring experience for any pilot, especially if the pilot has never experienced it before, sources said.
Flight 3407 experienced an aerodynamic stall, rolled over and crashed into a house, killing all 49 people aboard and one man in the house.
Renslow's training history was first reported Monday by The Wall Street Journal.
The NTSB begins an unusual three-day public hearing on the accident on Tuesday.
"Training is clearly going to be a very important" part of the hearing, NTSB acting chairman Mark Rosenker said in an interview with AP.
The NTSB recommended two years ago that the Federal Aviation Administration study whether pilot training on stick-pushers should be improved. It appears the agency did not change its guidance on stick-pusher training when it revised its training manual last fall on how to recover from a stall, sources said.
Officials for FAA and Colgan didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.
Besides his inexperience with the stick-pusher, Renslow had failed at least two flight simulator "check rides" administered by FAA during his employment at Colgan and several other check rides earlier in his career, sources said.
Colgan may not have known about the previous check ride failures because of a loophole in FAA requirements about what pilots must tell prospective employers, sources said.
Another issue to be probed at the hearing is whether the flight's first officer, Rebecca Shaw, was too fatigued to fly but failed to tell Colgan that because the work culture at the airline didn't encourage such disclosures, sources said.
Shaw had been a passenger on a red eye flight the previous night from Seattle, where she lived with her parents, in order to be at Newark Liberty International Airport for the flight to Buffalo. She also had a cold and was suffering from congestion, sources said.
