Created: 5/11/2009 4:14:20 PM 
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sources close to the investigation of February's deadly plane crash near Buffalo, N.Y., tell The Associated Press that the pilot did not have hands-on training with a critical safety system aboard the plane. LOCAL LAW STUDENT KILLED IN BUFFALO CRASH Flight 3407 was a twin-engine turboprop equipped with a system known as the stick-pusher. It automatically kicks in when a plane is about to stall, pointing the aircraft's nose down into dive. That's intended to help the plane pick up speed, allowing the pilot to guide it to a recovery. But when Flight 3407's stick-pusher kicked in on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport the night of the crash, Captain Marvin Renslow pulled back on the plane's control column, apparently trying to pull it out of the dive. The sources describe the activation of the system as a jarring experience, especially if a pilot hasn't experienced it before. The sources also say Renslow had failed at least two flight simulator "check rides" while with Colgan Air and several others earlier in his career. Officials for Federal Aviation Administration and the airline didn't immediately reply to a request for comment. Fifty people were killed in the crash of flight 3407.
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