A passenger plane carrying 50 people has crashed shortly after taking from an airport in Kentucky.
The Comair CRJ-100 jet, bound for Atlanta, Georgia, went down in woods about a mile (1.6km) from Lexington’s Blue Grass airport.
There are a “significant number of casualties” said a spokeswoman for the US Federal Aviation Administration.
Comair Flight 5191 came down just after 0600 (1000 GMT), and emergency crews were sent to the scene.
The plane was carrying 47 passengers and three crew members, the FAA said.
Comair is a unit of Atlanta-based Delta airline.
By: Newforest - 29th August 2006 at 08:07
NTSB are now reporting that the pilots observed that the runway was unlit and the F/O, the only survivor was flying the plane. 🙁
By: Whiskey Delta - 29th August 2006 at 00:12
I think attempts at giving outsiders a look into the inner workings of the cockpit environment don’t try to justify their mistake but paint a picture where it shows how cascading system/CRM/decision making errors can be masked by routine activities.
By: PMN - 28th August 2006 at 14:15
No, that’s not what I was trying to say.
The words are my own, but the general info comes from an RJ pilot. He attempted to set the scene in order to explain how relatively simple it is to make a mistake like this. He was neither confirming or denying any actions from the pilots… neither was I.
OK, fair enough.
Paul
By: Bmused55 - 28th August 2006 at 13:38
You almost sound like you’re trying to say it’s an acceptable mistake. I’d hardly call taking off from the wrong runway a “minor mistake”, however easy it may be to do.
RIP all those no longer with us.
Paul
No, that’s not what I was trying to say.
The words are my own, but the general info comes from an RJ pilot. He attempted to set the scene in order to explain how relatively simple it is to make a mistake like this. He was neither confirming or denying any actions from the pilots… neither was I.
By: PMN - 28th August 2006 at 13:22
The following has been offered as a defence against people with no stick time declaring that using the wrong runway is an obvious and stupid mistake
You almost sound like you’re trying to say it’s an acceptable mistake. I’d hardly call taking off from the wrong runway a “minor mistake”, however easy it may be to do.
RIP all those no longer with us.
Paul
By: Bmused55 - 28th August 2006 at 12:39
I’ve been following this on an air crash forum. Some speculation, but also some facts coming in.
The following has been offered as a defence against people with no stick time declaring that using the wrong runway is an obvious and stupid mistake:
It appears that yes the pilots attempted a take off from RWY26 instead of 22.
But RWY26 may have been lit up at the time, further adding to any confusion.
That needs to be confirmed, but if true it would certainly not have helped matters.
Also, the taxi time from the terminal to the runway is short at KLEX, at 6am there was no traffic to hold them up, so the crew would have been very busy completing their Taxi and before take off check lists.
On top of the lists, one of them would need to do a PA to the PAX, the other inform the cabin crew of takeoff then await confirmation that the cabin is secure and ready. That’s a lot to squeeze into a few minutes. But it’s not to say that they were rushed. Just likely to be very busy. So it is not impossible that the crew did not notice that they hadn’t yet passed RWY26 and so they lined up on the wrong runway. It was dark, so they would not have been able to visualy see the length of the runway… not that you can in daylight either at most airfields.
Then factor in that the Tower did spot their mistake.
Seems that yet again one or two small and minor mistakes have led to tragic consequences.
By: Ren Frew - 28th August 2006 at 02:01
I am flying to Toulouse at the beggining of september on a CRJ and I have to admit that I am starting to feel a bit uneasy. Confusing the runway?….What were the controllers doing at the time?.
It doesn’t sound like the aircraft is to blame Keltic..?
I just wonder if there ought to be a better system of signage at airports with intersecting runways? Maybe a colour coding system that clearly applies to one runway or the other ?
By: steve rowell - 27th August 2006 at 23:09
I believe it was a 200!!
By: EK. - 27th August 2006 at 22:50
CNN reporting its mainly all business passengers who would have been catching connections at ATL.
By: SHAMROCK321 - 27th August 2006 at 22:39
This is really terrible. Sunday morning flight would probably have been full of VFR passengers or at leat mostly leisure passengers. May they all RIP.
By: hawkdriver05 - 27th August 2006 at 21:56
Number on the plane was N431CA………..really starting to look like it tried to take off from wrong runway.
By: andrewm - 27th August 2006 at 18:35
Ive flown on a CRJ 200 and 700. Would fly them again nice aircraft. 700 was nicer.
By: keltic - 27th August 2006 at 18:00
I am flying to Toulouse at the beggining of september on a CRJ and I have to admit that I am starting to feel a bit uneasy. Confusing the runway?….What were the controllers doing at the time?.
By: Whiskey Delta - 27th August 2006 at 16:52
Latest reports say that it’s the First Officer that was pulled from the crash site. I hope he recovers.
Looks like the CRJ may have taken off the wrong runway. The primary runway is 7003′ long while the smaller intersecting runway is 3500′. Having flown in and out of the LEX airport I can say that the approach ends of those 2 runways can be confusing when taxiing towards them.
By: Whiskey Delta - 27th August 2006 at 14:27
I hope they find more, what a tragedy.
By: hawkdriver05 - 27th August 2006 at 14:22
Fox news is reporting one survivor.
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August 27, 2006 at 2:06 pm