Canadian-made plane had no previous fatal crashes

The Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 was built in Toronto by the Canadian aerospace company. The plane has 74 seats and runs on turbo-prop engines, rather than jet-engines.

Based on a recording of the pilot's conversation with air-traffic controllers in Buffalo, the pilot sent no emergency messages before the plane went down, suggesting there was little warning that the plane was in trouble.

The plane was operated by Colgan Air, a Manassas, Va.-based affiliate of Continental Airlines, which has 15 of the planes and has ordered 15 more, according to reports.

The Dash-8 Q400 can carry up to 78 passengers, according to Toronto-based aviation expert Andy Klein, who spoke to The Canadian Press.

The popular model is commonly used for short-haul flights. Toronto's Porter Airlines, for example, uses the Bombardier model exclusively for its flights between Toronto, Newark, Montreal, Ottawa, Chicago and Halifax.

"It's an extremely popular airplane in high demand," Klein told CP, adding that the aircraft is fuel-efficient.

According to reports, this particular plane was just one year old.

"What's significant here is this is the most modern of the Dash series airplanes. This is the Dash-400. It has a glass cockpit, it's a very sophisticated airplane, a very efficient airplane, it only flew for the first time in the year 2000, commercially," aviation expert Mark Miller said.

Prior to this crash, the Q400 has never been involved in an accident where all the crew and passengers were killed.

"All the years this plane has operated around the world there have been a few accidents but there have always been survivors. Yesterday changed that," Miller said.

In the fall of 2007, Scandinavian Air Systems banned its fleet of Dash-8 Q400s after three landing accidents occurred in a seven-week period.

SAS blamed the accidents on faulty landing gear, though a later investigation into one of the crashes found the landing gear wasn't at fault.