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Before dawn on Sunday, August 27th past, Comair Flight 5191 carrying fifty passengers and crew crashed during takeoff, while attempting to depart on a runway one-half the length of the one it was cleared to use. The accident killed all aboard with the exception of the copilot, whose condition was recently upgraded to serious from critical. There is no question that the pilot of the Bombardier CRJ-100/200 (depending on the source) lined-up on the 3,500 ft. runway 26 rather than the 7,000 ft. runway 22. The CRJ-100/200 would normally require about a 5,000 ft takeoff roll. Evidence of tire marks...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- The sole survivor of a plane crash that killed 49 people near Lexington last week told family members from his hospital bed, ''Why did God do this to me?'' but he hasn't mentioned the crash, a close family friend said Wednesday. James Polehinke, who was the flight's co-pilot, can move only his head, and tears often well up in his eyes, said Antonio Cruz, Polehinke's mother's boyfriend. He said the 44-year-old had only gained consciousness on Tuesday. Polehinke hasn't mentioned the crash and doctors have encouraged family members not to ask him about it, Cruz told...

LEXINGTON, Ky. - What is known is that a string of mistakes preceded the deadly crash of Comair Flight 5191, but what is less clear is which one was the crucial turning point. Was the problem the airport itself? The captain had to follow an unfamiliar taxi route that had been changed by a repaving project just a week earlier. Or, was it a decision by the tower manager to break the federal rule that two controllers should be working there at all times? Or even earlier, when the airport built intersecting runways rather than parallel ones? "It just breaks...

LEXINGTON, Ky. --The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair Flight 5191 crashed cleared the jet for takeoff, then turned his back to do some “administrative duties” as the aircraft veered down the wrong runway, a U.S. government investigator said Tuesday. Separately, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged violating its own policies when it assigned only one controller to the Lexington tower. The commuter jet struggled to become airborne and crashed in a field before daybreak Sunday, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard, after taking off from a 1,067-metre runway, instead of an adjoining one that was...

It's been the question on everyone's mind since Comair Flight 5191 crashed Sunday, killing 49 people: How could the plane end up on the wrong runway? Federal officials won't rule on the official cause for months, but the crew must have missed several safeguards and potential warning signs as they prepared for takeoff and swept down the runway, according to pilots, aviation-safety experts and attorneys around the country. "They went through several stop signs," said Ron Goldman, a Los Angeles lawyer with extensive experience in air-disaster litigation. "The safeguards are many." Those include airport charts, runway lights and signs, as...