Article published July 25, 2007

Last Updated: 11:18 am | Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Hearing to fix crash's cause

BY ALEXANDER COOLIDGE | ACOOLIDGE@ENQUIRER.COM

Eleven months after Comair flight 5191 crashed in a failed takeoff attempt from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, federal investigators will disclose the probable cause of the accident that killed 49 people on board.

At its public meeting Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board – the panel charged with probing the accident – may also make additional safety recommendations that will be reviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has the authority to enact all, part or none of the suggestions.

Though it has already disclosed many details from the accident, the public meeting will be the first time the board will provide its interpretation of its investigators’ findings. The pre-dawn crash occurred when the pilots attempted to takeoff from the wrong runway at the airport – an unlit one that was only half as long as the one designated for commercial carriers.

The accident killed everyone aboard except the first officer, who lost a leg.
Kevin Darcy, a former crash investigator for Boeing and partner with Seattle-based consulting firm Safety Services International, said the only real suspense during the meeting will be how much blame is assigned to the pilots and other factors.

“The only thing new here is the probable cause,” he said, adding investigators have disclosed numerous items that may have contributed to the disaster leading up to the accident but haven’t prioritized their importance.

Previous disclosures have revealed:

* The pilots violated FAA and company policy by engaging in potentially distracting chitchat as the jet taxied into the wrong position before attempting takeoff.

* The pilots noticed during the attempted takeoff that the runway was unlit – the crash occurred about a half-hour before sunrise – but did not appear to be alarmed, although federal rules generally are interpreted as prohibiting commercial planes from using unlit runways. They had also received several warnings of lighting problems at the airport.

* The pilots were provided an incorrect diagram of the airport’s layout during ongoing construction and did not receive all the safety notices they were supposed to get.

* The FAA violated its own staffing policy by having only one air traffic controller on duty in Lexington at the time of the crash.

* The air traffic controller on duty was working after only two hours of sleep and did not actually see the accident.

Darcy noted after the board issues its findings, the FAA may or may not act on them. He said Thursday’s recommendations still might be used to pressure the FAA to beef up specific areas of safety policy, such as preventing runway incursions.

Jim Hall, a former chairman of the safety board, said the panel missed an opportunity to broaden the case into a comprehensive review of aviation safety by not holding a fact-finding public hearing as part of its investigation.

“They should have had a hearing in this case – there was no reason not to,” he said, adding a hearing would have given findings from the Comair investigation more heft.

The board has already suggested safety improvements in the wake of the crash, including:

* Requiring pilots to confirm their aircraft’s location at its assigned runway prior to takeoff.

* Mandating airlines to provide specific and clearer guidance on crews about lighting requirements during nighttime takeoffs.

* Suggested the FAA work with the controllers union to revise scheduling and cut down sleep pattern disruption that aggravates fatigue.

Other safety improvements have entered the debate since the crash. The FAA has requested airports provide diagrams of ongoing construction projects instead of text descriptions. The national union representing pilots, the Air Line Pilots Association, has suggested requiring cockpits be equipped with the moving map displays and global positioning units available in some automobiles.