Response To Lawsuit Pins Blame On Carrier, Pilots

It was pilot error, pure and simple, that led to the August 27 crash of a Comair regional jet in Kentucky. That's the word from officials at Kentucky's Blue Grass Airport, who responded this week to a lawsuit filed against the airport and federal government by Comair.

In its response to the lawsuit filed by Comair in October, the Urban County Airport Board said "the sole proximate cause of the tragic accident ... was the negligent and wrongful conduct of Comair and its flight crew," according to documents obtained by the Lexington Herald.

Airport officials say Comair failed to provide pilots with information on recent construction at Blue Grass Airport, including changes in taxiway routing, or else its pilots failed to heed the NOTAMs in effect regarding those changes. Either way, the airport says, that's Comair's issue -- and not theirs.

"As today's filings demonstrate, Comair's lawsuit ignores the law and does not have the facts on its side," airport officials said in a statement. "If Comair and (its) insurance company really believe they are not liable, they should not be asking others to share a financial burden."

As Aero-News reported, Comair 5191, a Bombardier CRJ100 with 50 persons onboard, crashed off the end of Runway 26 at the airport in the early morning hours of August 27. The pilots apparently mistook the short runway for the longer Runway 22 -- the runway the flight was cleared by the tower to depart from.

Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx said the airline wishes to ensure all parties who contributed to the accident pay their share of the damages. Marx also stressed the airline did make information on construction at Blue Grass available to pilots, but no one can say if the pilots of Flight 5191 got that information or not.

The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the accident, and has not issued a probable cause of the crash.

FMI: www.comair.com, www.bluegrassairport.com