Posted on 08/30/2006 10:04:15 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair Flight 5191 crashed had only two hours of sleep before starting work on the overnight shift, a federal investigator said Wednesday.
National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said the controller had only nine hours off between work shifts Saturday. That was just enough to meet federal rules, which require a minimum of eight hours off between shifts, Hersman said.
"He advised our team that he got approximately two hours of sleep," Hersman said.
The controller, a 17-year veteran whose name has not been released publicly, worked from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. He came back to work at 11:30 p.m. on the same day to begin an eight-hour overnight shift.
The commuter jet crashed Sunday morning, in the final hours of the controller's shift, while trying to take off from Blue Grass Airport.
Hersman said the NTSB planned to examine the controller's schedule in the days leading up to the crash.
Federal officials have been looking for explanations why Flight 5191 mistakenly tried to take off from a runway that was too short, crashing in a nearby field and killing 49 of 50 people on board.
The news conference Wednesday night was the final NTSB briefing in Lexington, but it could take up to a year before the investigation is concluded, Hersman said.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the air traffic controller union approved the work schedule rules, and the FAA provides information about how to avoid fatigue.
"If they don't believe they're fit for duty, they're supposed to tell us that," Brown said. "You won't be penalized for not reporting for work."
The crash threw a spotlight on another practice aviation experts say goes on around the country: Small regional airports are sometimes manned by a single air traffic controller, even though federal rules require two.
The FAA has directed Blue Grass Airport and others like it to staff their towers with at least two controllers. But the FAA has acknowledged that only one was working Sunday in Lexington during the crash.
In a policy outlined in a directive last November, the FAA said two controllers must be on duty for all shifts at any airport that handles both control tower observations and radar operations.
But Ken Spirito, director of a regional airport in Peoria, Ill., said it is common for some late-night and early morning shifts to be staffed with only one controller. Someone may call in sick or take a vacation, and the FAA usually decides to keep the airport open, he said.
"The mandate that is issued by FAA is only as good as the staffing levels at that particular tower," Spirito said.
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said that at the time of the accident, there were only two other towers _ in Duluth, Minn., and Fargo, N.D. _ that were not following the policy to staff with two controllers.
"We have clarified the guidance for them," Brown said.
She said staffing was adjusted at four other towers earlier this month, before the Comair crash. "This is an issue we've been looking at," she said.
Scott Zoeckler, who worked as a controller at Blue Grass for 25 years before retiring in 2004, said the overnight and early morning shifts were usually manned by only one person.
On Sunday, the controller on duty at the Lexington airport had turned his back to perform some "administrative duties" when the plane veered onto the wrong runway, investigators said.
The first officer, James Polehinke, remained hospitalized Wednesday in critical condition.
Jed Doty, a Louisville flight instructor who also flew briefly for Comair last year, said it is the pilot's duty to get on the right runway.
"It's your responsibility to immediately speak up because, especially in busy airports, you can get in some pretty bad situations pretty quickly," Doty said.
On Wednesday, six tour buses took the victims' families to the crash site for the first time. The airport also established a memorial in a parking lot, featuring a banner reading "Remembering 5191" with pens for people to write messages.
Law firms lined up to represent family members who want to sue for negligence. One Fort Worth, Texas, firm published a full-page ad in Wednesday's Lexington Herald-Leader promising families it would seek "the greatest amount of damages allowed by law."
Comair offered to pay $25,000 per passenger to each family who lost a loved one.
"We understand that no monetary relief can overcome the grief of losing a loved one," Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx said. "But we also recognize there likely will be additional financial demands at this difficult time, and we hope this form of assistance can help alleviate some of the immediate financial pressures."
Marx would not say how many families had requested the payment, which she said "in no way prejudices their right to any claim they may have under the applicable law."
A group stands under umbrellas in a light rain at a
temporary memorial to the victims of Comair Flight 5191
at the Blue Grass Airport Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006, in
Lexington, Ky. The crash killed 49 people on Sunday.
(AP Photo/Ed Reinke)
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
Scum sucking SOBs, the lot of them.
Airplane crashes attract lawyers like sh*t attracts flies.
Thankfully, air accidents usually don't get too out of hand when it comes to compensation. Because of the issues and dollar amount involved, all of the individual cases that get filed get sucked from state court into federal court. Then they usually all get consolidated into one big federal action that ends with a fairly reasonable settlement from the airline's insurers a number of years later.
I'm afraid Comair is going to have to add a zero or two.
"..slept only 2 hours"
Isn't that typical for our medical professionals as well?
Maybe three.
Why do I have a hard time believing this?
That dog isn't going to hunt.
The simile would be better if there were something that attracted sh!t, because that's what these heaps of dung are. Sh!t to the very marrow of their souls.
-ccm
Our unit experienced a significant jet crash in the 90s. Within 5 minutes of it making CNN the lawyers were swamping the phone lines.
I never thought I could hate lawyers more, but I took it to another level that day.
Oh well. I guess that makes too much sense for the FAA.
It's because of the same reason small aircraft engines haven't been allowed to advance at all in the last 60 years.
Trial lawyers have helped civillian aviation almost as much as the FAA. The day is coming soon that private aircraft will be outlawed so we must all use the cattle pens and airborne buses that pass for commercial aviation these days.
If the pilot won't or can't read the huge numerals indicating the compass bearing, why would they pay more attention to the smaller distance warning?
The runway number is identified in yellow numbers, on a black background. The runway distance remaining signs, in thousands of feet, are indicated with white numbers on a black background.
Doesn't matter. It was not his job to operate the aircraft. That's what the captain is paid to do.
The pilot had trouble figuring out which plane he was supposed to fly. He had to be told he was prepping the wrong plane.
Sh*t attracts more lawyers than flies if someone slips in it and breaks a hip.
People are foolish to join large class actions suits, the only one who ends up with the money is the lawyers, all the plaintiffs split what's left after "expenses" like $10,000.00 20 word letters that take their secretaries 5 min's to write, informing the company's lawyers that they will be 10 min's. late for a settlement meeting. You're better off independent
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