As the investigation into the Buffalo plane crash that killed 49 people is under way, authorities are analyzing instrument data and listening the last word the pilot and the co-pilot exchanged before the impact in order to find out whether the plane went down because of ice buildup on its wings. 

According to investigators, shortly before the crash, the crew of Continental Connection Flight 3407 said the plane had ice buildup on its wings and windshield. Ice buildup on a plane’s wings can interfere with its handling and usually leads to tragic crashes.

However, no conclusion on what caused the plane to violently smash into a house has been reached yet.

Flight 3407, which took off from Buffalo airport and was bound for Newark, NJ, went down on Wednesday in conditions of light snow, mist and wind – conditions that usually cause ice buildup. The crash occurred about six miles from the airport where the plane had taken off.

The plane crashed nose-first into a house. All the 48 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft died and a bystander also perished in the fiery crash.

Two people from the home in which the plane crashed miraculously escaped. The huge fire ignited by the crash made it too hot for intervention crew to remove bodies until Friday or Saturday.

The black box aboard the plane was recovered by investigators and sent to Washington for analysis of the data. However, it is highly probable that ice buildup, one of the aviation’s most common problems, caused the crash.