Federal investigators are trying to determine why a Comair commuter jet took off from a short runway used by private aircraft rather than a longer one for commercial jets before crashing into the woods Sunday near the Lexington airport.
Comair Flight 5191 crashed about half a mile past the end of the runway shortly after takeoff Sunday morning, killing 49 of the 50 people on board.
The sole survivor, first officer James Polehinke, was in critical condition at a Lexington hospital.
The Delta Air Lines commuter flight to Atlanta had been cleared to take off from the 7,000-foot Runway 22 at Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport. Instead, evidence at the scene indicates the plane took off from Runway 26, which is about half as long.
It could take a year for all the details of this accident to become known. But it’s looking like the pilot simply chose the wrong runway for takeoff. The CRJ100 aircraft was at passenger capacity, it had a full load of fuel, and it needed more than 5000 feet of runway. Runway 26 is only 3500 feel long. It’s entirely possible that the jet never got more than a few feet off the ground.
Pilots are not afforded the luxury of making a mistake, but it looks like a mistake was made in Lexington. I hope that neither fatigue nor “adult substances” played a part in any of this.
Comair, 5191, Delta Air Lines, commuter, Runway 22, Blue Grass Airport, Runway 26
