Inappropriate to link N.Y. plane crash to past accidents: Bombardier

A Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 is shown flying near Pearson International Airport in Toronto on June 10, 2008. A commuter aircraft of this type crashed into a home and exploded northeast of Buffalo Thursday night, killing 49 people on board and one on the ground.(Andrew H. Cline/Canadian Press)

The type of airplane that crashed into a house near Buffalo on Thursday night, killing 50 people, has faced concerns over its safety record, but a spokesman for its Canadian manufacturer says it is "highly inappropriate" to link the crash with anything from the past.

Continental Airlines flight 3407 was a year-old Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 turboprop, a twin-engine model built in Toronto. The Q400 attracted headlines in 2007 after experiencing a series of accidents linked to its landing gear.

Marc Duchesne, a spokesman for the Montreal-based Bombardier, offered his condolences to the families of those who died in the accident. He told CBC News that his company would not offer additional comment on the cause of the accident until investigators release further information.

"And it is highly inappropriate to link it with anything that occurred in the past," Duchesne said.

Aviation consultant Ted Lennox said the plane is the most successful recent modern turboprop transport in use.

"It's increasingly popular. It's fast, it's efficient and Bombardier is selling more and more. It's the most popular plane right now," Lennox told CBC News.

CBC meteorologist Nick Czernkovich, who is also a pilot, said the plane is considered safe.

"[It's] really a reliable airplane," he said Friday. "Very reliable engines on this airplane as well."

3 accidents involving SAS craft

On Sept. 9, 2007, five of 73 passengers aboard a Scandinavian Airlines System flight were injured when the Q400 caught fire after its right-side landing gear collapsed as the plane touched down in Aalborg, Denmark.

Three days later, another SAS Q400 suffered a right-side landing gear collapse while landing in Vilnius, Lithuania.

And on Sept. 21, 2007, a Florence-bound Q400 came to rest on its nose after the front wheels failed to deploy during a landing in Munich.

SAS decided to permanently stop flying the aircraft following the accidents, saying at the time that confidence in the Q400 had "diminished."

A subsequent investigation by the European Aviation Safety Agency into one of the crashes — in which no one was seriously injured — found the malfunction was not due to a design error.

No one was seriously injured in any of the accidents. Until Thursday, no fatalities had been linked to the plane.

Lennox said the aircraft has had a good safety record and that past mishaps with the landing gear may have been problems with operational factors, beyond Bombardier's control.

"The aircraft maintenance requirements are very strict and they come from the manufacturer. Now when the airline follows them to the letter, all is well. And sometimes, airlines don’t necessarily realize the importance of certain procedures and in that case sometimes that can lead to other incidents," Lennox said.

Colgan Air Inc., Continental's carrier, operates 15 of the Q400 craft, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration records. FAA records for the plane indicate it received its most recent certificate of airworthiness in April.

The engines were manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Canada. The Q400 is flown by Canadian carrier Porter Airlines and many other airlines around the world.

With files from the Canadian Press