Plane Crashes in Lexington

WTVQ 36 Lexington ^ | August 27, 2006 | Jon Sasser

[BigBlueJon]

Possible plane crash in Lexington, KY. My brother works security for Lexington UK Hospital and was just called in. No news locally or on major news outlets yet. I didn't want to post anything for fear of being wrong, but he's still waiting for an official call while on stand-by.

Update from WTVQ 36 Lexington:

A plane has crashed near the Blue Grass Airport this morning. No word on details at this time. We are told it was a commercial aircraft. Versailles Road is blocked as emergency vehicles circle around the site. We have live coverage beginning at 7:20am. Stay with Action News 36 for more details.

[Moose4]

Thanks. I'm going to be interested to see what comes out of that, someone in the tower might not have been paying attention.

I looked at the taxi chart for the airport and somebody unfamiliar with the place could quite possibly make this mistake if they weren't paying attention. The taxiway that leads from the terminal area northward toward runway 22 first crosses runway 26 at its takeoff end (as taxiway A) and then continues at a slight angle over to runway 22 (as taxiway A7).

The taxi chart is available at http://www.myairplane.com/databases/approach/pdfs/00697AD.PDF

}:-)4

[BigBlueJon]

No wreckage footage yet.

[leadpenny]

In the early 70s while stationed at Ft. Knox I was in charge of upgrading instrument tickets for everyone who had a tactical ticket in the Air Cav Sqdn. Lexington was still a non-radar environment and it made it a good circuit to fly to Lex, shoot a couple of approaches and have lunch. It was not uncommon to see thoroughbreds being on-loaded or off-loaded at the general aviation ramp. On the return trip we'd shoot a missed at Standiford and back to Godman. I just loved flying over the countryside around Kentucky. Too soon the fun was over and I had to go push troops at the training center.

[kingu]

MSNBC is re-broadcasting video from their local affiliate, which pans along the short runway to the hillside where the fire training center is, then to the trees beyond.

[SLB]

No wreckage footage yet.

Airspace around the crash site is off limits to news helicopters at this time.

[Jo Nuvark]

Comair Flight 5191 crashes in Kentucky

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BF80F21FE%2D3EB3%2D412E%2DAF4D%2DF0B59A03AC46%7D&dist=newsfinder&siteid=google

[StAnDeliver]

"Runway 22/4 does cross Versailles Road and it is the longer, primary runway."

The edge of 22/4 comes right up to, but does not actually cross, Versailles Road.

[El Gato]

That is why they tell you to stay in your seat. They know it goes down the middle of the airplane.

Unless it hits a wing, which is common. Actually lighting is highly unpredictable. I once went TDY to the Navy's lighting strike lab at PAX River NAS (Md). They had two sorts of "models". One was a full voltage, low current device used with sub-scale models of various aircraft. It was used to determine where lighting was likely to strike a particular aircraft type. They had a P-3 model on the test fixture when we were there. The other could generate a full current bolt, but only over a small distance It was used to test materials. They were blowing holes in a piece of wing panel. That second one sounded like a rifle shot, maybe like a .50 cal, going off inside of a hanger. The hanger was shielded because they also used it for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing of aircraft up to an including the USAF B-52.

[Diddle E. Squat]

The news conference said that the airport was reopened to flight operations and the crash was a bit past the end of a shorter runway used by smaller general aviation planes, so perhaps the copters are prohibited from within the airspace around the crash site that would provide a clear shot. Though one would think they could go higher up to get a suitable angle, but I have no idea what the ceiling is for a news copter.

[1035rep]

Bookmark

[BP2]

I used to pilot these planes years ago. The engines were pretty reliable, from an operator's standpoint, anyway. The MFD overheated easily, but I'm sure that wasn't an issue in the morning. I didn't care for the braking system -- seemed inadequate.

Fully loaded with gas, passengers and luggage, and on a short runway, it could be a scary takeoff, even when things went right.

Prayers for the victims and possible survivor. Hopefully he can shed light on what happened...

[pillut48]

I have a terrible sinking feeling that this was not a 'natural' accident, but that someONE caused it (probably those Norwegian Amish people!!)--it will be interesting to see the passenger manifest...pass the tin foil, but it sure does seem that lately there has been an unusual rash of airplane indidents--too many to be simply 'coinkydink', if you know what I mean! Possible feelers into the American airlines, looking for weaknesses and exploiting them if possible?

[gswilder]

Live in Lexinton, and have flown in/out of there many many times. We are now starting to get some live aerial video, but still cannot see the plane itself. But from where the emergency vehicles are, it is just off runway 26 (short runway, parallel to Versailles road). Of course they could have taken off runway 22 (over Keeneland), and had a problem and turned back toward the airport. This would have also put them about where the crash was. So still too early to know. But with the runway resurfacing last weekend, that would be a strange coindicence if not a factor. Might contribute to using a wrong runway if that turns out to be the cause.

Weather wise, local TV is showing a small thunderstorm close to the airport right around 6am this morning. Said that they took off under VFR conditions.

[ErnBatavia]

My pals in Perth, West Australia like to tell about the Garuda (Indonesian...horrible reputation) international flight tried to land on the highway outside of the airport - the pilot thought it was the runway.

[wallace144]

The local news outlets could not take off due to the crash. The airport was shut down and they couldn't get to the helicopters or planes. Louisville's WAVE 3 had a chopper in the area but the airspace was restricted.

[BigBlueJon]

Someone just speculated on Fox News that the plane was partially intact and that the pilot may have been able to land the plane. The explosion was possibly after ground contact, and not immediately on impact.

[jcs1744]

There is absolutely NOTHING to suggest this is terrorism. This plane crashed half a mile from the runway.

Take off the tin-foil hats, guys.

[OBXWanderer]

/26 is only 3500 ft. That's actually not too much room for a fully-loaded CRJ. In fact, it's doubtful that a safe takeoff could be executed since the the MTOW runway length is 5800 ft for the CRJ-200. My question is why was takeoff not aborted once the pilots realized they were running out of room, instead of forcing the a/c into the sky before reaching Vr.

From Post 11.....

Runway 8/26 Dimensions: 3500 x 75 ft. / 1067 x 23 m Surface: asphalt/concrete, in poor condition CONC IS SEVERELY CRACKED. Weight bearing capacity: Single wheel: 12500 lbs

[ashamedtobefromparkridge]

My dentist also is a dental examiner and one of my dad's closest friends.

[StAnDeliver]

Live video: Not much left of the fuselage. Looks like the pilots thought they had a chance to find a flat surface on the top of the hill and skidded very briefly, but tangled up into a thin treeline. The engines are sitting in a small rainwash gulley that the treeline borders, and only the cockpit and a bit of additional fuselage remain lying on their side.