I blame the people in the tower - NOT the flight crew!! If the people in the tower actually spent any time looking OUT of those fancy windows they have, they would have seen that he was headed toward the wrong runway and straightened him out.
Instead, they worried more about their coffee than the safety of the people on those planes.
The ultimate safety of the flight falls on the PIC (pilot in command). I have refused several dirctions from the tower that I considered not in my best interest. Better to get a pink slip than a toe tag
Unfortunately, I have to disagree here.
Yes, ATC might possibly have been able to catch the error, based on their workload the and the conditions outside the tower, but it's not something that you can count on.
When you get right down to it, the ultimate responsibility lays with the flight crew (in particular, the captain who's recognized as the Pilot-in-Command). The two pilots had several years of experience, and were apparently familiar with the airport and the route. In addition to that, in the cockpit, they had a facility directory with a taxi map for the airport.
Then there's the fact of the markings and signs posted along the taxiway. And the markings at the runway threshold. Or the bit that blows my mind. The fact that both pilots apparently didn't notice the compass heading was 026 degrees instead of 022 degrees, despite the fact that they'd have checked the reading prior to departure.
The only explanation I can come up with that makes any sense at all is that the either the crew rest period had been violated, and the flight crew was fatigued, or something else had been going on prior to departure.
person - there was only one controller in the tower.
I have not seen any info about the runway that was assigned. Were they told to use another runway and went this one by mistake? I wonder if there was anything unique about today's departure. If not then they've probably taken off from there before and would be aware of a change in runway assignments or their clearance.
At least they stand a good chance of finding out what went wrong though. Both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were said to have been recovered.
This will be an interesting one as it unfolds.