http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/15375458.htm
Plane crash near Lexington airport kills 49
Wrong runway might have been used
HERALD-LEADER STAFF REPORT
* Farm owner: Pilot used wrong runway
* Families provide names of some crash victims
* Map of crash site
* The crew
* The plane
* Sunday worshipers offer they prayers for victims, families
* Comair CEO Don Bornhorst's statement
* Guestbook for plane crash victims'
* Previous crashes at or near airport have killed 3
* Weather near Blue Grass Airport at 6 a.m. today:
A commercial plane crashed near Blue Grass Airport this morning, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard the Atlanta-bound aircraft.
Airport officials confirmed that emergency personnel took one survivor, the flight’s first officer, to University of Kentucky Hospital.
Flight 5191, a Comair Delta connections flight, went down at 6:07 a.m. about a mile west of the airport, Comair said. The non-stop flight was scheduled to leave at 6 a.m. and arrive at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at 7:18 a.m.
Mike Gobb, the airport’s executive director, said the plane, a regional jet, had “difficulty on departure.â€
The crash marks the end of what has been called the “safest period in aviation history†in the United States, according to the Associated Press. There has not been a major crash since Nov. 12, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 plunged into a residential neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., killing 265 people, including five on the ground.
The plane crashed in a hilly, heavily wooded area on a working farm, one of many farms that surrounds Blue Grass Airport, said Chief Scott Lanter of the airport public safety department. The farm is within view of the airport runway, he said. The site appears to be directly in line with the airport’s shorter runway, used for general aviation planes.
The smaller runway, one of two at the airport, does not have lights and is for daytime-only use, airport officials said.
Nick Bentley, owner of the farm where the plane crashed, said the plane hit an 8-foot fence between his property and the airport, and clipped several trees. Bentley said he did not go to the crash site, but he can see the fence from other locations on his land.
“He obviously .... used the wrong runway,’’ Bentley said, as the shorter runway is “a straight line†to where the airplane landed on his farm. “He just got disoriented for whatever reason.â€
Gobb confirmed that there is damage to the fence between the end of the short runway and the crash site. He also said there are a number of ways the plane could end up where it did.
Airport officials said they didn’t know which runway the plane took off from. Asked whether the smaller runway would be sufficient for a plane of this size, Gobb said, “No, it is not.â€
Said Lanter: “All we know was that the crash was at the end of runway 8-26,†the shorter runway.
Of the two runways at Blue Grass Airport, the main is 7,001 feet with 600 feet of safety area on each end. The general aviation runway is 3,500 feet. The main runway was completely repaved last weekend. The only construction last week on the smaller runway was to tie it in to the main runway, according to airport officials.
The plane was mostly intact, but a fire occurred, Lanter said The plane, Gobb said, would have been fully loaded with jet fuel, and that the fire broke out after impact.
The cause of death for most of the victims would be fire rather than smoke or impact, said Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn.
Police Chief Anthany Beatty said he had talked to the FBI about terrorism, and “at this point, there is no nexus to terrorism.â€
Three officers — two from the airport police and one Lexington police officer — pulled the plane’s first officer out of the wreckage, officials said. The airport officers were identified as Pete Maupin and John Sallee.
University of Kentucky Hospital was treating the survivor, according to spokesman Jay Blanton. James Polehinke, 44, the plane’s first officer, is in critical condition; he was quickly taken to surgery, another spokesperson said. Polehinke has worked for Comair since 2002.
The pilot was identified as Jeffrey Clay, 35, of Burlington, Ky. He has worked for Comair since 1999 and has been a pilot since 2004. The plane’s flight attendant was identified as Kelly Heyer, 28. He has worked for Comair since 2004.
“It’s horrible to see an airplane sitting in a field in an unnatural setting,†said Ginn, the coroner.
His office is calling in people with a lot of expertise in dental records. He said family members are being asked to supply dental records to help in identification.
Ginn said he expects his office will be working to identify bodies for at least three days. He said a moment of silence was held at the crash site at 10:20 a.m., and the Lexington police chaplain said a prayer.
A makeshift morgue will be set up at the state medical examiner’s office in Frankfort later today.
Airport officials said a room had been set aside at the airport for family members of those on the plane. The Lexington police chaplain used the room to talk to family members. Family members are now being sent to the Crowne Plaza Lexington at the Campbell House.
Echoing the sentiment of other family members, Rick Queen of Lexington said he was very upset with the impersonal and brief nature of the response by Comair and the city of Lexington. Queen’s father-in-law, Les Morris, was on the flight.
“They just brought us all into a room like a herd of cattle,†he said.
A Comair official stood up and told them there had been no survivors and gave a toll-free number to call. That was it, Queen said.
“I’m in shock being a resident of Lexington that they’ve handled it this way.†Queen said. “There are 48 grieving families in here, and we know no information.
“They’ve reopened the airport, and we understand the accident scene is still on the ground.â€
The airport reopened its main runway about 9 a.m after the terminal was shut down about 7 a.m., Gobb said. Still, people scheduled to fly out of the airport had to wait outside the terminal for transportation. Flights have since resumed in and out of the airport.
Extra Transportation Security Administration workers are being brought in. Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who is in Germany for the World Equestrian Games, said by phone that he will return to Kentucky, possibly by Monday afternoon.
“This is one of the largest tragedies we’ve seen in Kentucky, from the number of lives lost,†Fletcher said.
State officials said they were working on a governor’s declaration for a state emergency. David Altom, a spokesman for the Kentucky National Guard, said the emergency declaration would call on the availability of all necessary state resources to help in the tragedy. Altom also said the Kentucky National Guard provided two Blackhawk helicopters to transport state officials and emergency workers from Frankfort to Blue Grass Airport.
He said under such circumstances, the Emergency Operations Center has been activated in Frankfort to help coordinate state resources. At the State Central Laboratory in Frankfort, where some of the bodies are expected to be taken, security workers were blocking access to the building. The building is on the East-West Connector south of Frankfort.
National Transportation Safety Board officials have arrived at the scene. The team – called the Go Team – consists of investigators who specialize in various aspects of accident investigations.
The investigation will look at anything that could have contributed to the crash, including the pilot, aircraft and airport where the runway resurfacing occurred, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
“I’m sure that is something that would be looked at,†Bergen said.
The resurfacing was the final phase of a $35 million improvement project that began in October 2003.
Watch Kentucky.com for updates on this story.
