Flight Data: Plane On Wrong Runway
Black Box Confirms That Pilots Made Error In Deadly Crash
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Play CBS Video Video Comair Black Box Retrieved Investigators recovered the black box from the Comair jet that crashed near Lexington, Ky. They hope it will provide important information as to the cause of the crash. Bob Orr has more.
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Video Pilot Training The Comair incident has highlighted the issue of the quality of regional carriers' pilots, but aviation experts observe that they have made giant strides in their hiring and training practices.
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Video Report: Jet On Wrong Runway Officials told CBS News that pilots of crashed Comair jet had made "a critical and fatal mistake." CBS News' Bob Orr reports the commuter plane used the wrong runway in Lexington, Ky.
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The tail of Comair Flight 5191 rested among trees at left after the plane crashed in a field during take off less then a mile from the runway at the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006. Forty-nine people were killed. (AP)
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The flight data recorder from Comair Flight 5191, foreground, and the cockpit voice recorder are carried in to National Transportation Safety Board headquarters in Washington, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006. (AP)
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Chief Deputy Richard A. Head, right, with the Fayette Co. Sheriff's Dept., direct family members arriving to get more information at Bluegrass Airport, in Lexington, Ky., where Comair Flight 5191 crashed, on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006. (AP Photo)
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Police and fire crews are staged at the end of the Bluegrass Airport runway in Lexington, Ky., Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006. (AP Photo)
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A Comair CRJ jet has crashed outside Lexington, Ky, the FAA reports. (AP (file))
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Interactive Air Disasters Review the worst air disasters in the past four decades, see how safety officials investigate plane crashes and more.
Preliminary flight data from Comair Flight 5191's black box recorders and the damage at the scene indicate the plane, a CRJ-100 regional jet, took off from the shortest runway at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport, National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said.
Earlier Sunday, U.S. officials told CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr that the pilots inexplicably used a runway that was too short to accommodate the takeoff of the jet. The officials said the pilots had made "a critical and fatal mistake."
The 3,500-foot-long strip, unlit and barely half the length of the airport's main runway, is not intended for commercial flights. The twin-engine CRJ-100 would have needed 5,000 feet to fully get off the ground, aviation experts said.
The smaller, un-lighted airstrip is primarily used for lightweight business jets, Orr reports.
It wasn't immediately clear how the plane ended up on the shorter runway in the predawn darkness. There was a light rain Sunday, and the strip veers off at a V from the main runway, which had just been repaved last week.
"We will be looking into performance data, we will be looking at the weight of the aircraft, we will be looking at speeds, we will pull all that information off," Hersman said.
The Atlanta-bound plane plowed through a perimeter fence and crashed in a field less than mile from the end of that runway at about 6:07 a.m. Aerial images of the crash site in the rolling hills of Kentucky's horse country showed trees damaged at the end of the short runway and the nose of the plane almost parallel to the small strip.
Among the dead were a newlywed couple starting their honeymoon and a man who took an early flight to get home to his children. Jon Hooker had just married Scarlett Parlsey the night before the crash in a ceremony with 300 friends and relatives at Lexington's Headley-Whitley Museum.
Pilot Jeffrey Clay was killed in the crash and fire, but resuce workers did pull co-pilot Jim Polehinke from the wreckage, but he had critical injuries and burns, Orr reports.
When rescuers reached it, the plane was largely intact but in flames. A police officer burned his arms dragging the only survivor from the cracked cockpit.Watch: Bob Orr's report on the runway mistake
The flames kept rescuers from reaching anyone else aboard — a newlywed couple starting their honeymoon, a Florida man who had caught an early flight home to be with his children and a University of Kentucky official among them.
"They were taking off, so I'm sure they had a lot of fuel on board," Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said. "Most of the injuries are going to be due to fire-related deaths."
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency had no indication that terrorism was involved in any way in what was the country's worst domestic plane crash in five years.
It's rare for a plane to get on the wrong runway, but "sometimes with the intersecting runways, pilots go down the wrong one," said Saint Louis University aerospace professor emeritus Paul Czysz.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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"a more likely casualty count is 40-50k"
umm. okay. so in other words..you were just being a typical liberal blowhard. You JUST SAID that "bush murdered hundreds of thousands".
It is my understanding that there was recently some repaving done at the airport.
It appears that the pilots took off from runway 26 which is located before runway 22 which they were cleared on. Since the airport had recently been resurfacing the runways, I have two questions here. First, was runway 26 the runway which was resurfaced and if it was, was it clearly marked for the pilots who may have not been familar with this airport? Could this be the reason for the accident?
"I'm sure the Democrats will find some way to pin this on the Bush administration."
No one is trying to do that, not that it matters. He has soooooo much blood on his hands from the murder of hundreds of thousands, does it really matter if we add 50 or so more?
Libs don't "get" facts nor logic, they just spout platitudes...
Tell me, 123, how is a suicide bombing between Sunni's and Shiites the fault of W? Help me understand how George is responsible for this hate... or yours, for that matter.
The above mentioned sentence should be corrected as follows:
Orr adds that two [other] flights took off from the correct runway (22) just prior to the Comair flight's departure.
Here ya go:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7967-2004Oct28.html (note that this article is dated October 2004)
A more likely casualty count is 40K-45K, but the 100K figure has at least been reported in the MSM.
I work 50 hours a week sir. In case you didn't notice...today is Sunday.
1. As seen in the newscast, the identification numbers for runway 26 are painted on the very beginning of the runway. This is normal under current guidelines for a non-instrument runway.
2. The taxiway intersection for runway 26 allows the aircraft to enter the runway at a point beyond the identification numbers.
3. The identification numbers for runway 26 are faded, possibly beyond established safety standards.
Recommendation:
1. Place the non-instrument runway identificaton numbers well beyond the beginning of the runway at all airports.
2. Require more frequent inspection to meet minimum visibility standards for runway identification markings.
3. Require flight crews to add a final checklist item verifying assigned runway alignment with their compass. This checklist procedure alone may have prevented this accident.
You guys have too much free time on your hands based on the comments you've posted. Go get a job!
"murder of hundreds of thousands".
source?
No one is trying to do that, not that it matters. He has soooooo much blood on his hands from the murder of hundreds of thousands, does it really matter if we add 50 or so more?
I agree. I'm sure the Democrats will find some way to pin this on the Bush administration. I can hear it now: "In 2002, The Bush Administration {insert nonsensical jibberish here}...which ULTIMATELY caused the plane crash".
- by dannoga August 27, 2006 3:37 PM EDT
- IT IS OBVIOUS WRONG RUNWAY WAS USED FOR TAKEOFF...QUESTION IS DID ATC (GROUND,TOWER ETC) CLEAR THEM TO TAKE OFF ON THAT INCORRECT RUNWAY...OR DID THEY DECIDE TO USE IT ON THEIR OWN?
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