A commuter plane crashed into a house near Buffalo, New York, late Thursday, killing all 49 people aboard and one person in the home.

Continental Airlines Flight 3407 was flying from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo when it went down around 10:20 p.m.

Just 7 miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the plane crashed directly into a house where it also injured four people on the ground.

Among the 44 passengers onboard was Beverly Eckert, a widow of a September 11 attack.

The small turboprop plane crashed so suddenly that there were no signs of distress from the pilot.

Later reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed that, according to cockpit recordings, the crew noticed ice buildup on the plane’s wings and windshields just before the aircraft began pitching and rolling violently.

This is the first fatal crash of a U.S. commercial airliner in two and a half years.

The flight, a Dash 8 Q400 Bombardier aircraft, was operated by Colgan Air, which is owned by Pinnacle Airlines. The pilot, Captain Marvin Renslow, had logged 3,379 hours with the carrier.

Related links: CNN, Newsday, ABC News, CNN, Associated Press

By Sarika Chawla for PeterGreenberg.com.

Back in November 2007, the Dash 8 Q400 was topic A on Peter’s radio show. This is what he had to say about the plane then.

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