Plane Crashes Outside of Buffalo, New York

As I was feeding my 22 month old son his breakfast and preparing a bottle for my three month old daughter my cell phone began to ring very early this morning. It was my husband calling from work to ask if I had turned on the news yet. When I told him no he informed me that a plane had crashed somewhere in Clarence, NY last night while on its way to the Buffalo airport. I was shocked as we live about twenty minutes away from Clarence and have family who live in the area. I was also worried about who might have been on the plane. I could not think of anyone I knew who would have been flying last night, but you never know.

Though my son has been protesting over missing Sesame Street, I have had the channel two news on for most of the morning. From information gathered from various press conferences it appears that the plane crashed into one house and is speculated to have killed all of the fifty people on board. There were three people inside of the house when the plane hit it. Two women managed to escape but one male resident of the house was killed. There was no distress call from the plane and it is reported to have dropped off radar before the crash. The cause of the crash is unknown but nothing is being ruled out. The data and voice recording devices were retrieved from the tail end of the plane which was somewhat intact and are on their way to Washington where investigators will try and figure out what caused the plane to crash. The FBI is in Clarence helping with the investigation.

The Buffalo News reported in an online edition of their newspaper that many of the crash victims were residents of Buffalo and surrounding suburbs. The names of the following victims have been released so far: Beverly Eckert, Ellyce Kausner, Maddy Loftus, Captain Marvin Renslow, Rebecca Shaw, Matilda Quintero, Donna Prisco, and Capt. Joe Zuffoleto. The names of other victims are not know at this time. Victim Be very Eckert was the widow of a man who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She was heading into Buffalo to celebrate her late husband's birthday.

It is frightening to hear of a plane crash no matter where it happens. Having one occur just outside of an airport my husband and I have flown from and to with our children adds an emotional element that is hard to describe. Knowing that our fellow Buffalonians were on that plane is heartbreaking. It really makes you realize that you never can tell if you will be here tomorrow and makes you want to tell everyone you care about that you love them. This is a story I plan on following closely.