Pilots in Kentucky crash called dark runway 'weird'

[Naim 6]

Latest development on last summer's Comair crash.

 

Refer to: http://www.malaysianwings.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3281

 

Pilots in Kentucky crash called dark runway 'weird'

 

The flight's cockpit recording reveals the pair chatted but didn't check the compass, or for trouble spots.

By Ken Kaye and William E. Gibson, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

January 18, 2007

 

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — Just before the August crash of a commuter plane that took off on the wrong runway there was some laughing, yawning and general ease in the cockpit.

 

Comair Capt. Jeffrey Clay and First Officer James Polehinke gossiped about kids, dogs and fellow pilots while running through checklists.

 

But they didn't discuss any problems they might encounter during the short taxi to their assigned runway at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky. And it wasn't until they advanced the throttles for takeoff that they noticed it was strangely dark.

 

The National Transportation Safety Board released a transcript Wednesday of the cockpit recording aboard Comair Flight 5191.

 

"[That] is weird with no lights," said Polehinke, who was at the controls.

 

"Yeah," Clay responded.

 

They allowed their CRJ-100 commuter jet to accelerate for eight seconds to more than 115 mph — on a runway with no lights — before Clay knew something had gone horribly wrong.

 

"Whoa," he blurted.

 

A second later, at 6:06 a.m. on Aug. 27, the sounds of impact, cockpit alarms and unintelligible exclamations could be heard. The small jet, bound for Atlanta, ran off the end of a 3,500-foot runway that was far too short, killing 49 people on board. Only Polehinke survived.

 

The safety board probably will take several months to determine a formal cause of the crash, but the report released Wednesday revealed that the pilots committed errors.

 

Notably, they failed to conduct a taxi briefing, where the pilots review any trouble spots at the airport to ensure they reach the correct runway. This was despite the airport alerting, via a radio recording, that construction could make navigating taxiways tricky.

 

Also, the Comair flight's pilots failed to double-check that their compass reading matched the direction of the runway. Because they were assigned to take off on the 7,000-foot Runway 22, their compass should have read about 220 degrees. Instead, they lined up on Runway 26, which has a compass reading of about 260 degrees.

 

However, the sole tower controller on duty that morning didn't see the plane roll onto the wrong runway because he had turned away from the window to perform an administrative duty, the report said.

 

Further, the pilots might have talked too much about matters nonessential to the flight, moments before the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in five years.

 

*

 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Min Chun 0]

Human error...sigh

R.I.P

[Victor Goh 0]

Good luck to Polehinke... Surviving is one thing.. Imagine what he is about to face...

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

Good luck to Polehinke... Surviving is one thing.. Imagine what he is about to face...

 

Maybe a life sentence,without parole.That's my guess.

[Damian 0]

you guys can imagine the pressure we face everyday..with so many lives in our hands..

[Teoh Z Yao 0]

This is bad.

[Yusoff 1]

My guess is, the lone tower controller, the pilots as well the the authority (for negligence in lone controller case) are to be blamed.

 

Pilots, million thanks for every save journeys you've made and tower controllers, for every guidance given for navigation

[Andrew Ong 1]

Here is the the transcript in the conversation between Captain Jeffrey Clay and Co-pilot James Polehinke in Delta Connection Flight DL191 (Comair Flight OH5191):

 

Clay: (05:40:27.1) It's amazing though right now. They are using everybody pretty efficiently. Um, just shows you what they can do. Like I mean I don't have more than 10 hours in a hotel, any of these days that I've been on.

 

Polehinke: (05:40:38.2) Really.

 

Clay: (05:40:38.7) And it's been that way for all month. Now September rolls around, and I'll guarantee you it'll be a different story.

 

------

 

Polehinke: (05:44:04.9) I guess, when I'm, I'm deciding on making a major decision, if it doesn't feel right in my gut. Or if I don't have a little voice, if it starts talking to me, and I'm like I need to re-evaluate.

 

Clay: (05:44:29.5) Yeah.

 

Polehinke: (05:44:43.2) You know it'd be nice to go over there and fly heavy metal, fly international, but they work you hard over there (JFK) I've been told.

 

------

 

Polehinke: (5:52:22) I'll take us to Atlanta.

 

Clay: (5:52:24) Sure.

 

------

 

Polehinke: (5:56:34) Right seat flex takeoff procedures off of um ... he said what runway? One of 'em. Two four.

 

Clay: (05:56:43) It's two two.

 

------

 

Clay: (06:00:09) Both kids were sick though, they, well they all got colds. It was an interesting dinner last night.

 

Polehinke: (06:00:16) Really.

 

Clay: (06:00:16) Huh, oh gosh.

 

Polehinke (06:00:19) How old are they?

 

Clay: (06:00:20) Three months and two years old. Who was sneezing, either nose wiped, diaper change. I mean that's all we did all night long.

 

Polehinke: (06:00:31) Oh yeah, I'm sure.

 

------

 

Polehinke: (6:06:07) Set thrust, please.

 

Clay: (6:06:11) Thrust set.

 

Polehinke: (6:06:13) That is weird with no lights.

 

Clay: (6:06:18) Yeah. One-hundred knots.

 

Polehinke: (6:06:25) Checks.

 

Clay: (6:06:31) V-one rotate. Whoa.

 

(6:06:33) Sound of impact, unintelligible exclamation.

Edited January 23, 2007 by Andrew Ong

[Naim 6]

CNN

July 26, 2007 -- Updated 0143 GMT (0943 HKT)

 

Pilots blamed in '06 crash

 

* Story Highlights

* NTSB: Comair pilots failed to notice they were on wrong runway

* August 2006 crash in Lexington, Kentucky, killed 49 people

* Air traffic controller wasn't watching, but isn't faulted

* Pilots' chitchat in cockpit may have contributed to crash, report says

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Comair pilots' failure to notice clues that they were heading to the wrong runway was the primary cause of last summer's deadly Kentucky plane crash that killed 49 people, safety investigators concluded Thursday.

 

The National Transportation Safety Board deliberated all day on possible causes of the August 27, 2006, crash of Comair Flight 5191, which tried to depart from the wrong runway -- a general aviation strip too short for a proper takeoff.

 

Board members originally had considered listing errors by the air traffic controller as a contributing cause but ultimately pinned most of the blame on the pilots and the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to enforce earlier recommendations on runway checks.

 

NTSB board member Deborah Hersman suggested during the meeting that there were numerous causes -- nearly all of them human.

 

"That's the frustration of this accident -- no single cause, no single solution and no 'aha' moment," Hersman said. "Rather than pointing to a mechanical or design flaw in the aircraft that could be fixed or a maintenance problem that could be corrected, this accident has led us into the briar patch of human behavior."

 

Staff members also concluded the flight crew's lack of updated maps and notices alerting them to construction that had changed the taxiway route a week earlier was not a factor in the navigation error.

 

NTSB staff member Joe Sedor identified one possible overriding factor -- unnecessary chatter between pilot Jeffrey Clay and first officer James Polehinke as they prepared to taxi and take off. Comair has acknowledged some culpability as a result of the talk, which violated FAA rules calling for a "sterile cockpit."

 

Sedor said the talk "greatly affected the crew's performance." Hersman agreed but suggested the disaster couldn't be pinned on that alone.

 

"It's clear this crew made a mistake," Hersman said. "Their heads just weren't in the game here. The issue is, what enabled them to make this mistake?"

 

Hersman pointed to the paperwork the crew never got detailing the taxiway change. Not only was it not in their packet from Comair, but the air traffic controller didn't broadcast the announcement that morning, even though it had been doing so the rest of the week.

 

NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said many things could have prevented the crash.

 

"We deal in redundancies in this business," Rosenker said. "That's what enables us to look after each other in the cockpit, and if one of the crewmen fails to do something, the other is there to help fill in the gap."

 

No witnesses were called at the board meeting.

 

Investigators said the lone air traffic controller on duty used poor judgment by turning his back before takeoff, but they debated whether a required second controller could have prevented the accident.

 

NTSB staff concluded controller Christopher Damron should never have turned away to do an administrative task "not critical to flight safety" as the jet was preparing to depart.

 

However, the staff dismissed as a nonfactor the violation of an FAA directive calling for two controllers to work overnight shifts in airports like Lexington -- one to keep an eye on the ground, the other to monitor radar.

 

About 25 relatives of crash victims gathered at a hotel in downtown Lexington on Thursday to watch a video link to the hearing.

 

"You just think that if one precaution had been observed, then this tragedy wouldn't have happened, and we would still have our loved ones," said Lois Turner, whose husband was a passenger. "And that, I think, is the sad part and the hard part, to know that there were so many missed opportunities."

 

===

[Pieter C. 5]

NTSB: Comair crash a culmination of errors

 

Friday July 27, 2007

The US National Transportation Safety Board attributed the Aug. 27, 2006, pre-dawn crash of Comair Flight 5191 at Lexington Blue Grass (Ky.) Airport to errors by the cockpit crew that board members were at a loss to explain.

 

In a draft report released yesterday following an 11-month investigation, NTSB called for enhancements in airport taxiway markings and lighting and the use of in-cockpit map displays.

 

The pilots attempted to take off in a CRJ200 on a general aviation runway that was too short for the aircraft. It struck an earthen berm at the end of the runway and landed in a fiery crash that killed 49 of 50 people onboard. The first officer was the lone survivor. The taxiway at Bluegrass had been reconfigured and the lighting had been changed due to construction, but the pilots apparently were unaware of the significance of the changes.

 

Some of the board members expressed frustration yesterday, saying that they knew how the accident happened but didn't know why. Both pilots were seasoned professionals but apparently missed some vital "cues" as they taxied toward the shorter, darkened runway instead of the main, lighted runway used for commercial aircraft.

 

As the aircraft was poised for takeoff, the first officer reportedly said, "That's weird--no lights." Even so, the takeoff continued and investigators said there was no indication that either pilot expressed concern or any sense of confusion.

 

The airport diagram charts that the pilots both appeared to be using that morning were incorrect, according to investigators. Neither pilot had received a NOTAM, or notification of changes in the runway markings or the taxiway.

 

"A number of cues were missing or inaccurate," said Board Member Deborah Hersman. Investigators noted that the pilots conducted about 40 sec. of "nonpertinent conversation" at the beginning of the flight in violation of the "sterile cockpit" rule. The problems were compounded that morning with only a single air traffic controller on duty in the tower who was momentarily distracted, rather than the two controllers required by FAA.

 

"That's the frustration of this accident--no single cause, no single solution, no 'ah hah' moment," Hersman said in Washington yesterday. "Rather than pointing to a mechanical or design flaw in the aircraft that could be fixed or a maintenance problem that could be corrected, this accident has led us into the briar patch of human behavior."

 

Moments before the ill-fated flight took off, two other regional aircraft from SkyWest Airlines and American Eagle departed and did not appear to have a problem locating the correct runway, investigators noted. "It's very clear this crew made a mistake," Hersman said. "Their heads just weren't in the game here."