Pilot Error Under Examination in New York Crash

It's beginning to look like the icing conditions encountered by the Continental commuter flight was not the cause of the crash:

Investigators examining last week's Continental Connection plane crash have gathered evidence that pilot commands — not a buildup of ice on the wings and tail — likely initiated the fatal dive of the twin-engine Bombardier Q400 into a neighborhood six miles short of the Buffalo, N.Y., airport, according to people familiar with the situation.

The commuter plane slowed to an unsafe speed as it approached the airport, causing an automatic stall warning, these people said. The pilot pulled back sharply on the plane's controls and added power instead of following the proper procedure of pushing forward to lower the plane's nose to regain speed, they said. He held the controls there, locking the airplane into a deadly stall, they added.

The crash on Feb. 12 at about 10:20 p.m. EST killed all 49 aboard and one person on the ground.

I surmised recently that the crash sounded like the airplane was in a flat spin when it hit the ground. The pilot's control inputs described above could certainly put the airplane into that unrecoverable situation.

According to another report that I read the captain had only 110 hours in this type of aircraft. Although it says "Continental" on the side of the plane, the aircraft are operated by separate companies under contract with the parent, and the pilots who fly for these commuter lines are working their way up the airline food chain and are much less experienced and are paid far less than their parent company counterparts.

I'm wondering if the concerns over icing might have distracted the pilot from job one which is: Fly the airplane.