Thoughts and Prayers

[Pilot70D]

I'm sure that our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those aboard and the sole survivor of Comair/Delta Connection's Flight 5161 which crashed immediately after takeoff this morning. All aboard except for the copilot were killed in this tragedy. The plane was carrying 47 passengers and a crew of three. The flight had just departed from Lexington and was bound for Atlanta.

[peaches from georgia]

From what they are saying the plane took off from the incorrect runway. The one used was half the length of the one the tower assigned them, which was the proper length for this particular aircraft.

[sail7seas]

That airport only has two runways ....what a horrible mistake if that turns out to be the cause.

 

What a tragedy.....indeed, thoughts and prayers.

 

[patval]

I want to first say Valerie and I have both said a prayer this morning for everyone that perished in the accident and the lone survivor. I live here in Lexington and have been watching non-stop the coverage ever since 7:30am EST this morning. Yes indeed it was the wrong runway they should of went on 22 not 26 which is 3500 ft and used only for small aircraft and went off the runway and burst into flames and landed next to a tree line behind some tobacco barns. I live literally across the street from the University of Kentucky Hospital where the first officer or co-pilot is on surgeon and I believe by now in ICU. I am still boggled on how the pilot and co pilot did not notice there error until the end because on http://www.flyertalk.com/forum go to Airlines and then Delta there are people there that are pilots and flown out of this airport and said there signs saying what runway you are on and what runways you are crossing so attention might of not been paid enough too. Some people have said that ATC person should of noticed something but some experts on this site how they are pilots and some are huge I mean huge frequent flyers some already have over 1 millions miles flown just this year said that ATC person does not have to observe the takeoff.

 

Paul

[cusyl]

"One woman was expecting her sister on that flight. The two had planned to fly together to catch an Alaskan cruise, he said."

One of our own fellow cruisers :(

[Pilot70D]

Right now what we're hearing and seeing on CNN, HNN and so forth is speculation. Furthermore the talking heads on the news channels feel compelled to yammer on even though most of what they're saying IS unconfirmed at this time.

 

The reality is most of them have never been on the filght deck of an aircraft during take-off consequently they have no idea of what might or might not have gone on. It is true that Lexington International (KLEX) has two runways, 8/26 which is a 3500' runway and 4/22 which is a 7003' runway. The wreckage came to rest apprioximately 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile from the end of runwayy 22 but that doesn't mean that the aircraft took off from that runway.

 

The only way to know for certain which runway was used would be to listen to the tower tapes, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and decoding the info in the flight data recorder (FDR). The tower tapes would have been seized immediately which is the standard procedure when an accident like this occurs.

 

It's entirely possible that the plane took off from the longer runway but veered off course due to a mechanical problem . It's also possible that the flight crew was attempting to return to the airport after a mechanical emergency and didn't have quite enough altitude to make it back to any of the runways. It is of course possible that they used the short runway. I iwll say this. I have flown into KLEX a couple of times. There is no good place to do an emergency off-airport landing near the airport.

 

Whatever the case may be we won't know which runway was actually used and what happened for several weeks. In the meantime my heart and my prayers go out to the families of those who perished in this tragedy.

[Tinknock50]

Praying here too.....:(

[newmexicoNita]

I am sure we are all praying for the families of the victoms and for the co pilot. NMNita

[kryos]

Add my prayers to everyone else's.

 

I've been away from the tv all day ... and I just heard about this tragedy not ten minutes ago. How tragic ... not just for the victims, but for their families who will now have to deal with this for the years to come. :(

 

I guess this sort of thing reminds us ... never take flying for granted. So many of us often do. It's dangerous ... plain and simple ... and I know that I, for one, always say a prayer for the salvation of my soul ... not to mention everyone else's onboard ... before takeoff on every flight.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[peaches from georgia]

The NTSB has said the plane used the short runway which is not used for commercial flights.