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To: don-o
Thanks for the welcome Don-O, and I can understand why everyone wants to speculate. Aviation accidents highly fascinate me as well, especially considering my line of work as an ATCer.

I wouldn't want to speculate too much into this LEX accident, as there are just so many variables to consider. I have no doubt that the NTSB will find out exactly what happened here, as they will examine it from every angle. But to answer your question about pilots making errors on the ground... it does happen every once in a blue moon, but it is very rare... especially for a commercial pilot. Usually the ones you have to be on the lookout for are the general aviation pilots, not the commercial pilots who fly for a living. In fact, THIS in itself could be a contributing factor as to why the ATCer in the tower at LEX did not catch this in time. You see, us Controllers expect someone who flies for a living to be "on the ball" or "on top of his/her game." However, looking at the LEX airport layout and runway configuration, its very understandable how this mistake could happen... especially early in the morning... in darkness. One would think the controllers at LEX have had this type of thing happen before on more than one occasion, and would be on the lookout for it. But it only takes not paying attention just once for something like this to happen. Sad but true.

I would be interested in knowing exactly where their Control Tower is located on the airport, and what kind of view the tower controller has of that takeoff point... and what he or she was doing at the time the aircraft started rolling down the wrong runway. This point on the airport may not be easily visible, as all towers are not located right in the middle of an airport (like they probably should be). I'd also be very interested in knowing what the Tower Controller was doing at the time the aircraft started takeoff clearance. Its fairly obvious he/she wasn't doing his/her job correctly, because they should've caught this... and I have no doubt will share in the responsibility of this accident happening. I have no doubt there was only one controller on duty in the tower, as smaller facilities like LEX are minimally staffed at that hour. I don't think that's smart for the FAA to allow that, as 2 eyes are always better than 1. But nobody ever said the FAA was smart.
836 posted on 08/28/2006 7:14:08 AM PDT by Painful (Air Traffic Controller specialist)
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To: Painful
The tower is located in a position to see 100% of the taxi and runways at the airport. Personal experience.
844 posted on 08/28/2006 8:37:50 AM PDT by reagandemo (The battle is near are you ready for the sacrifice?)
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