I went to NACO, the FAA National Aeronautical Charting Office, and the airport diagram that they've got for KLEX shows a different taxiway layout. They don't have the taxiway in the picture that you've got labeled as A4; all they have is that looping connector between 22 and 26 (taxiway A7). The chart says it's good "03 AUG 2006 through 31 AUG 2006)". If you compare it to your picture, it's easy to see how a pilot could get confused...although that's no excuse for this type of mistake being made.
FAA chart available here for comparison to the picture:
http://naco.faa.gov/d-tpp/0608/00697AD.PDF
}:-)4
An hour before sunrise in clearing weather, the airplane with 50 souls aboard ran out of runway. The Atlanta-bound plane lasted less than a minute aloft before falling a mile west of the airport, casting 50,000 pounds of debris and jet fuel about as it all burned mercilessly to a halt.
Forty-nine people on board were killed.
Immediately, the early-morning quiet enveloping Blue Grass Airport was no more.
Around 6:15 a.m., local hospitals were told to gather their staffs and to be ready for multiple trauma victims. Versailles Road became an emergency staging ground. Three police officers pulled a single man, the plane's first officer, barely alive, from the plane.
And the realization hit that Nick Bentley's farm had become both a crash site and sacred ground.
"They don't have the taxiway in the picture that you've got labeled as A4; all they have is that looping connector between 22 and 26 (taxiway A7)."
Yeah, you're right. If you look at the previous month's chart, you can see it labeled as A5 (I messed up the labeling of A4 and A5 because the two charts changed and it was very confusing). Here's both charts, side by side:
|
FAA CHART - JULY |
FAA CHART - AUGUST |
 |
 |
|
FAA CHART - JULY |
FAA CHART - AUGUST |
It appears that the August chart has renumbered the taxi-ways and what was A5 in July was changed to A7 in August chart. They show the new configuration, but don't show the closed off section at all on the August chart (pink on my modified picture). OTOH, it could be argued that it looks like they removed A5 and that A7 is actually the closed off portion. As I said, very confusing.
IMHO, this is an FAA major fubar. However, it's still the pilot's responsibility to verify - he's in charge.
So sad. Prayers for victims and their families.
