The National Transportation Safety Board adopted a final report Tuesday on the Feb. 12, 2009 crash of Colgan Air Fight 3407 in Clarence City, N.Y., which took the lives of 50 people including Maple Valley resident and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw.

The board findings stated the probable cause was Capt. Marvin Renslow’s reaction during the critical minutes leading up to the crash. Renslow was the pilot of the aircraft.

A release following the meeting stated Renslow “inappropriately responded to the activation of the stick shaker, which led to an aerodynamic stall from which the airplane did not recover.”

A stick shaker is a device that warns pilots the plane is about to stall.

The crash of the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, a turboprop airliner, occurred at 10:15 p.m. EST. The flight was traveling between Newark N.J. Liberty International Airport and Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The crash killed Shaw, Renslow, two flight attendants, 45 passengers and a 61-year-old man living in a house that was hit by the plane.

Investigators considered weather conditions and ice buildup on the wings, but determined this did not contribute to the cause of the crash.

The board adopted four contributing factors beyond the pilot’s response to the stick shaker.

• The flight crew’s failure to monitor airspeed in relation to the rising position of the low-speed cue.

• The flight crew’s failure to adhere to sterile cockpit procedures.

• The captain’s failure to effectively manage the flight.

• Colgan Air’s inadequate procedures for airspeed selection and management during approaches in icing conditions.

In the report, the Renslow’s training was cited as inadequate, “The captain had not established a good foundation of attitude instrument flying skills early in his career, and his continued weaknesses in basic aircraft control and instrument flying were not identified and adequately addressed.”

The board’s report also pointed to deficiencies in Colgan Air’s operations, “Colgan Air did not use all available sources of information on the flight crew’s qualifications and previous performance to determine the crew’s suitability for work at the company.”

The report also pointed out fatigue of the pilots was a contributing factor, but the board members did not list it as a probable cause.

Deborah A. P. Hersman, the board chair, made a motion to add fatigue as probable cause.

“We have demonstrated the captain and first officer were fatigued,” Hersman said during the Webcast of the hearing. “Fatigue chipped away at the margins of safety.”

The other two members of the board, Christopher A. Hart and Robert L. Sumwalt voted against the motion. Hart said he agreed the pilots were fatigued, but since the “experts” who prepared the final report did not add it to the list of probable causes, he agreed with Sumwalt and left it in the list of contributing factors.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Hersman pointed to the need for improved training of pilots.

“If we want pilots at the top of their game we need to adequately train them,” Hersman said. “The minimum can’t be the finish line…. It should not take another 50 lives to take this to action.”

The 24-year-old Shaw graduated from Tahoma High in 2002 and attended Central Washington University. She began flying with Colgan Air in January 2008.

Her mother, Lynn Morris, was a teacher at Tahoma Junior High. Morris attended the hearing Tuesday.