Clues point to ice as factor in fatal plane crash

A commuter plane that smashed into a house apparently plunged flat to the ground rather than nose-diving, ending up pointed away from the airport it was trying to reach, US investigators said.

Investigators did not offer an explanation as to why the plane ended up pointed away from the Buffalo airport, but it does raise the possibility the pilots were fighting an icy airplane: air safety guidelines say pilots can try a 180-degree turn to rid a plane of ice.