Reuters AlertNet Lite - Crew of doomed US jet noticed runway lights not on

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Crew of doomed US jet noticed runway lights not on

17 Jan 2007 23:32:09 GMT
Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The crew of a Comair jet noted seconds before crashing in Kentucky that it was "weird" the runway they were on was not lit, but they continued anyway unaware it was the wrong one, documents showed on Wednesday.

The fully loaded regional jet, a CRJ-100 made by Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. <BBDb.TO>, roared off the runway -- which was too short -- last Aug. 27 and crashed in a field, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard. The co-pilot, Jim Polehinke, was the only survivor.

It was the worst U.S. air disaster since an American Airlines jetliner crashed in New York in November 2001.

Cockpit recordings released by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that Flight 5191, heading to Atlanta, was cleared to taxi to the other, longer runway at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport.

Polehinke acknowledged while preparing for the predawn takeoff the plane had been assigned the longer Runway 22, which was lit, but the captain, Jeffrey Clay, taxied to Runway 26, which had recently been repaved and was only open for daytime operations by small planes.

Safety board documents showed the crew initially boarded the wrong plane ahead of its predawn takeoff. They found the right one and then went through the usual preflight chatter and check list duties.

Excerpts of the cockpit transcript included instructions from the lone air traffic controller on duty and evidence of two other flights using the correct runway.

The captain, Jeffrey Clay, was at the controls during taxi but handed off the aircraft to Polehinke for takeoff.

The controller's taxi command was heard over the radio: "Comair (five) one ninety one, taxi to runway two two ..."

"Hydraulics checked .. we got runway two two out of Lexington," Polehinke said to Clay two minutes later.

Clay taxied the plane to the threshold of Runway 26 -- the wrong strip -- and handed off to Polehinke.

Neither the controller nor the cockpit stated a runway number to one another when takeoff clearance was granted, the documents showed.

Polehinke noted the runway looked "weird with no lights."

"Yeah," Clay responded.

Seconds later the aircraft roared down the runway at 100 knots. It never left the ground.

Comair is a unit of bankrupt Delta Air Lines <DALRQ.PK>.

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Last updated:Wed Jan 17 23:33:41 2007