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Bombardier says plane that crashed in Buffalo only a few months old

Feb. 13, 2009, Montreal - A Bombardier Aerospace official says the Dash-8 Q400 aircraft involved in a fatal crash in Buffalo was a relatively new plane.


February 13, 2009  By The Canadian Press

Feb. 13, 2009, Montreal – A Bombardier Aerospace official says the Dash-8 Q400 aircraft involved in a fatal crash in Buffalo was a relatively new plane.

Company spokesman Marc Duchesne says the twin turbo-prop aircraft was put into service very recently and is only a few months old.

The Montreal-based aircraft manufacturer has sent a product safety and technical team to the crash site to help the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board with its investigation.

Witnesses heard the aircraft sputtering before it went down in light snow and fog, about eight kilometres from Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

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Duchesne says there were incidents related to the plane's landing gear more than a year ago in northern Europe.

But he adds that it is highly inappropriate to link any of the previous incidents with the latest accident, which killed 50 people in all.

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