Comair Flight 5191

1
Comair Flight 5191
2
CRJ-200 Variant
3
KLEX
4
(No Transcript)
5
Factual Informationfrom http//www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/
brief.asp?ev_id20060828X01244key1

• NTSB Identification DCA06MA064. The docket is
  stored in the Docket Management System (DMS).
  Please contact Records Management Division
  Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121 Air Carrier operation
  of COMAIR INCAccident occurred Sunday, August
  27, 2006 in Lexington, KYProbable Cause Approval
  Date 9/27/2007Aircraft Bombardier, Inc.
  CRJ-100, registration N431CAInjuries 49 Fatal,
  1 Serious.
• The Safety Board's full report is available at
  http//www.ntsb.gov/publictn/A_Acc1.htm. The
  Aircraft Accident Report number is
  NTSB/AAR-07/05.On August 27, 2006, about
  060635 eastern daylight time, Comair flight
  5191, a Bombardier CL-600-2B19, N431CA, crashed
  during takeoff from Blue Grass Airport,
  Lexington, Kentucky. The flight crew was
  instructed to take off from runway 22 but instead
  lined up the airplane on runway 26 and began the
  takeoff roll. The airplane ran off the end of the
  runway and impacted the airport perimeter fence,
  trees, and terrain. The captain, flight
  attendant, and 47 passengers were killed, and the
  first officer received serious injuries. The
  airplane was destroyed by impact forces and
  postcrash fire. The flight was operating under
  the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations
  Part 121 and was en route to Hartsfield-Jackson
  Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia.
  Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed
  at the time of the accident.
• The National Transportation Safety Board
  determines the probable cause(s) of this accident
  as follows
• the flight crewmembers's failure to use available
  cues and aids to identify the airplane's location
  on the airport surface during taxi and their
  failure to cross-check and verify that the
  airplane was on the correct runway before
  takeoff. Contributing to the accident were the
  flight crew's nonpertinent conversation during
  taxi, which resulted in a loss of positional
  awareness, and the Federal Aviation
  Administration's failure to require that all
  runway crossings be authorized only by specific
  air traffic control clearances.

6
Something to Think about

• Analysis of the cockpit voice recorder indicated
  the aircraft was cleared to take off from Runway
  22, a 7,003-foot (2,135 meter) strip used by most
  airline traffic at Lexington.
• Captain Jeffrey Clay confirmed runway assignment
  but taxied to Runway 26, an unlit secondary
  runway only 3,500 ft (1,067 m) long
• Controls were handed over to First Officer James
  Polehinke for takeoff.
• The air traffic controller in the control tower
  was not required to maintain visual contact with
  the aircraft after clearing the plane for
  takeoff, he turned to perform administrative
  duties and did not see the aircraft taxi to the
  runway
• Footage from one of the airport's security
  cameras shows the aircraft taxiing and then
  commencing its take-off run from the wrong runway
• http//aircrewhealth.com/Resources/Comair5191CVRtr
  anscript.pdf