Clarence, NY (WBEN)  -- 49 people died late Thursday in the crash of a Continental plane in Clarence Center.  WBEN Reporters Barbara Burns and Tom Puckett were both on scene as they learned 44 passengers, four crew and one individual on the ground are among the dead. 

The plane, flight 3407, crashed into a house on Long Street at approximately 10:20pm.  The plane had reportedly indicated it was having mechanical difficulty and lost contact with the tower.

"The whole sky was lit up orange," said Bob Dworak, who lives less than a mile from the crash site. "All the sudden, there was a big bang, and the house shook."

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The Q400 Bombardier turboprop was flying late Thursday from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in light snow, fog and 17 mph winds. It crashed around 10:10 p.m., about 10 miles from the airport. It had 44 passengers and a crew of four.

Houston-based Continental Airlines Inc. says Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air is "in the process of collecting information."

The Federal Aviation Administration says its representatives will be on the scene at first daylight.

Twelve homes in the immediate area have been evacuated.  Two female residents of the neighborhood were transported to Millard Fillmore Suburban hospital and are said to be being treated for non life threatening injuries.

It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner took off from a Lexington, Ky., runway that was too short.

Prior to the crash, the voice of a female pilot on Continental Flight 3407 can be heard communicating with air traffic controllers, according to a recording of the Buffalo air traffic control's radio messages shortly before the crash captured by the Web site http://www.liveatc.net . Neither the controller nor the pilot exchange any concerns that anything is out of the ordinary as the airplane is asked to fly at 2,300 feet.

A minute later, the controller tries to contact the plane but hears no response. After a pause, he tries to contact the plane again.

Then the controller asks the pilot of a nearby Delta Air Lines plane to see if he can see the Continental flight.

"Delta 1998, look off your right side about 5 miles for a Dash 8 about 2,300 (feet). You see anything there?" he asks.

"Uh, negative," the Delta pilot says.

Houston-based Continental Airlines issued a statement saying that preliminary information showed the plane carried 44 passengers and a crew of four.

"At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air's accident response team are being mobilized and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them," the statement said.

Chris Kausner, believing his sister was on the plane, rushed to a hastily established command center after calling his vacationing mother in Florida to break the news.

"To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I've never heard before. So not good, not good," he told reporters.

Clarence emergency control director Dave Bissonette said the crash killed one person on the ground.

Manassas, Va.-based Colgan did not immediately return telephone calls. The Federal Aviation Administration had no immediate comment.

Twelve homes were evacuated near the crash site, about 10 miles from the airport. The tail or part of a wing was visible through flames and thick smoke that engulfed the scene.

Two women believed to be residents of the neighborhood were being treated at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital for what were described as non-life threatening injuries, hospital spokesman Michael Hughes said. They were transported by ambulance approximately 11:35 p.m.

The crash came less than a month after a US Airways pilot guided his crippled plane to a landing in the Hudson River off Manhattan, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard. Birds had apparently disabled both its engines.

On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people.

The Clarence Town Hall is a media staging area for the recovery and investigation efforts.  A limited state of emergency has been declared in the town according to Erie County Executive Chris Collins.


WBEN Reporters Tom Puckett and Barbara Burns are on the story.  Hear LIVE continuous coverage on the air with on WBEN 930 AM.