Blog: Mother Of Local Pilot Tearful At NTSB Hearing

Carol Han of our Washington, D.C. Bureau sends these reports from a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the crash of a regional airliner near Buffalo, N.Y. Fifty people, including Rebecca Shaw of Maple Valley died when the Colgan Air turboprop crashed last winter.

Story: Evidence Pins NY Crash Cause On Pilot Errors

6:40 a.m.: Mom of Seattle pilot killed in plane crash near Buffalo at NTSB hrg on probable cause in DC. Lynn Morris bracing 4 difficult hrg.

7 a.m.: NTSB Chair says Buffalo plane crash investigation showed that "complacency that resulted in catastrophe."

7:14 a.m. Half hour into NTSB hearing into the Buffalo crash. Family members of victims are sitting in one large group at the front of the hearing room. Almost everyone is dressed in red. As one family member told me, the "red" solidarity movement started in December when they attended another hearing into the crash. It was Christmas then, and they wanted to present a united front. Today, almost a year after the crash that killed their loved ones, they're again dressed in red, this time, they tell me for Valentine's Day.

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In contrast, Lynn Morris, mother of Seattle co-pilot Rebecca Shaw, and other families of the crew are in the back of the room...2 rows behind me. She is dressed in black and is stony-faced as investigators explain the safety procedures that were not followed by her daughter and captain Marvin Renslow. I spoke to Morris just before the hearing and she tearfully told me she was "scared" about what she was going to hear. She didn't want this to be a hearing full of personal attacks against her daughter. It's a sentiment the NTSB Chairman, Deborah Hersman, underscored in her opening statement. "As we speak about the flight crew, we remember that we’re talking about individuals. The actions in the last minutes of their lives are not representative of the whole of their lives," Hersman said.

7:32 a.m.: One question Lynn Morris told me she wanted answered:why was it that every plane prior to her daughter's flight was grounded due to weather? In other words, she's questioning whether Continental Connection flight 3407 should have taken off at all. Morris just got her answer. NTSB investigators say that aircraft did have some ice on it, but it didn't affect the aerodynamics of the aircraft. "Ice ... did not affect crew’s ability to fly and control the airplane," said head NTSB investigator Lorenda Ward.

8:05: Investigators are painting a portrait of confusion and startled pilots in the moments before the crash. While a lot of the NTSB's discussion has centered on whether Captain Marvin Renslow received proper training of the airplane's stick shaker stall warning systems, Seattle co-pilot Rebecca Shaw is also getting her share of scrutiny.

NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman asked: Why didn't she overrule the Captain? (It is ultimately the first officer's job to step in if he/she feels there's something wrong.) NTSB investigators say it may be due to her inexperience ... usually what it takes to intervene with another crew member is more time in the cockpit. Investigators went on to say that there was enough time to recover this flight. "This wasn't a split second thing," one said.

So what happened? We're learning that part of the problem was all the talk going on in the cockpit. NTSB Board Member and former pilot Robert Sumwalt had listened to the cockpit voice recorder and said, "This conversation, it was a lot more than I’m used to. It was almost continuous ... and it was mostly one-sided with the Captain doing most of the talking." Sumwalt further criticized the Captain's actions by saying, "Ir was as flight was just a means for the Captain to conduct a conversation with this young First Officer."

9:10 a.m.: NTSB hearing just reconvened after brief 10 minute break, during which we caught up with Lynn Morris. As tears filled her eyes, Morris told me parts of the hearing were "very hard" to hear...the parts that had to do with pilot error. She said she couldn't go into further detail because she was still processing the past 2-and-a-half hours of the hearing. But despite her pain, she tells me that it's all about the big picture...and her hope that something good will come out of this tragedy, whether it be new safety procedures or better pilot training.