But Carrier Insists There's Plenty of Blame To Go Around

Comair officials have admitted two of their pilots were partially at fault for an August 27, 2006 crash that killed 49 of 50 people on board... but blame does not solely rest with those in the flight deck of the doomed CRJ100, the carrier insists.

According to the NTSB, Comair flight 5191, a Bombardier CL-600-2B19 (CRJ-100), N431CA, crashed during takeoff from Blue Grass Airport (LEX) in Lexington, KY. The airplane, which had been cleared for runway 22, taxied onto runway 26 instead and ran off the end of that shorter runway. Of the 47 passengers and 3 crewmembers on board the airplane, 49 were killed; the co-pilot received serious injuries.

Comair, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, contends better systems for alerting airlines to taxiway changes may have prevented the fatal takeoff crash.

The airline wrote in a submission to the NTSB how the current system was "developed in the era of the teletype" and was woefully out of date... adding such information should be available to pilots in "real time." Comair also complained the FAA needed "a better approach to runway surveillance. Only one controller was on duty at the time, and if there had been more, the accident might have been prevented."

Blue Grass Airport officials, planemaker Bombardier and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association lay the bulk of the blame on the pilot and co-pilot, according to the Associated Press. The co-pilot, James Polehinke, was the only survivor.

Comair contends there is plenty of blame to go around.

"It would be simple but inaccurate to conclude that the only cause of this tragic accident was a mistake by Comair's well trained and experienced flight crew," the airline said in its NTSB submission.

Blue Grass Airport places full blame squarely on the pilots.

"The probable cause of the crash of 5191 are directly related to the performance of the Captain and First Officer," the airport states, adding a  "loss of situational and location awareness" led Capt. Jeffrey Clay to mistakenly taxi the airplane onto the shorter Runway 26 instead of main Runway 22."

LEX officials stated further, "this was due to the unprofessional manner in which the flight crew performed their required duties after starting the airplane and during taxi for takeoff" and "the engagement in continuous non-essential and distracting conversation ... ," according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Transcripts of previously released cockpit voice recordings showed Clay and Polehinke discussing jobs, dogs and children while waiting for take off clearance.

Comair says it places "strong emphasis" on safety and adds the FAA should change the current system used to notify pilots of runway changes.

LEX asserts all its taxiways, markings, lights and signage "were proper and in compliance" with FAA regulations, a claim disputed by the Air Line Pilots Association. ALPA contends Flight 5191's pilots "confronted misleading taxiway signage and lighting cues that led them to believe that they were approaching runway 22; their intended runway."

In the days prior to the crash, the taxiways at LEX had been "slightly altered" due to a renovation. There was a NOTAM released alerting pilots to the widening and repaving project.

"During the course of this investigation, numerous system and safety deficiencies were identified as well as a significant number of human performance issues on the part of both the flight crew and the controller on duty at the time; all of which played a major role in this accident," the union said.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association accused the FAA for breaking its own rules in allowing a single controller to man the tower.

"Had there been two controllers in the tower, as required, NATCA's position is that this accident would not have happened," the union said in its NTSB submission.

The FAA has acknowledged that more than one controller should have been watching the ground and the air the night of the accident.

LEX has hired former NTSB managing director Peter Goelz as a consultant. He said the submissions "raise some important issues" but the crash "still boils down to pilot error."

"This is a painful accident because it is so heavily focused on human performance failures. ... It's a terrible thing to have to say that," Goelz said.

He believes the cockpit transcript indicated the pilots "were completely unaware of their mistakes even when they should have been."

"You cannot underestimate the amount of distraction ... They were not paying attention," Goelz said.

FMI: www.ntsb.org, www.alpa.org, www.natca.org, www.bluegrassairport.com, www.comair.com