The crew of Continental Connections Flight 3407 including copilot Rebecca Shaw, who lived in Maple Valley and graduated from Tahoma High School, may have been battling ice when their plane crashed Thursday near Buffallo N.Y.

All passengers and crew on the plane and one person on the ground died.

Federal investigators are looking at an ice buildup on the flight surfaces as the possible cause of the Continental Connections Flight 3407 tragedy.

Shaw, 24, was the first officer on the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, a turboprop airliner, that was flying between Newark N.J. Liberty International Airport and Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The plane crashed into a house at about 10:15 p.m. EST.

The latest information concerning the flight came during a Saturday press conference in Buffalo broadcast on television.

NTSB board member and spokesman for the investigators Steve Chealander said ice is one of the factors being considered as the cause of the crash.

Chealander said the de-icing system on the aircraft was “very sophisticated.” He said the federal investigators were not stating, “ice caused this accident. That is one of the focuses we have.”

According to Chealander the flight data recorder indicated the de-icing system on the plane was in the “on position, but we are not clear it was working.”

Chealander said the initial investigation indicated the aircraft did not hit the house nose first, but in a “flat situation. It is not oriented as a nose-down accident would take place.”

The spokesman also said the plane was oriented in the “opposite direction it was landing. It should have been southwest and it is oriented northeast.”

It is expected to take three to four days for medical examiners to recover all the victims. Chealander said DNA would be used to identify the people.

The NTSB reported there were 44 passengers and five crew members aboard the plane. One of the crew members on the plane, Capt. Joseph Zuffoletto, was off duty at the time of the crash.

A 61-year-old man, Doug Wielinski, living in the house died, but his wife, Karen Wielinski and 22-year-old daughter Jill Wielinski escaped.

Shaw graduated from Tahoma High in 2002. Her mother, Lyn Morris, was a teacher at Tahoma Junior High and lives in Maple Valley.

Shaw began flying with Colgan Air in January 2008. Colgan is a carrier partner for Continental Airlines.