Aerospace engineering expert Dr. Robert Key Dismukes, of NASA's Ames Research Center, testified Thursday in the hearing to determine what caused Flight 3407 to plummet to the ground on Feb. 12, killing 50 people. The expert spoke on what causes pilots to lose attentiveness and was surprised by the actions of the pilots when the stick shaker went off, signaling the plane was on the verge of a stall because insufficient air was passing over its wings. BuffaloNews also reports:
The pilots in Continental Connection Flight 3407 went from a landing speed approach of 182 knots to 130 knots in less than half a minute, when a stall warning went off in the cockpit... He (Dismukes) said the only way for pilots to react to such emergencies was continued training, so when it happens, the pilots can automatically know what to do.
