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Excerpts of Comair Cockpit Recording (Lexington Crash)
Fox News ^ | 17 January 2007 | Associated Press

Posted on 01/18/2007 11:40:34 AM PST by Erik Latranyi

Clay: (05:40:27.1) It's amazing though right now. They are using everybody pretty efficiently. Um, just shows you what they can do. Like I mean I don't have more than 10 hours in a hotel, any of these days that I've been on.

Polehinke: (05:40:38.2) Really.

Clay: (05:40:38.7) And it's been that way for all month. Now September rolls around, and I'll guarantee you it'll be a different story.

Polehinke: (05:44:04.9) I guess, when I'm, I'm deciding on making a major decision, if it doesn't feel right in my gut. Or if I don't have a little voice, if it starts talking to me, and I'm like I need to re-evaluate.

Clay: (05:44:29.5) Yeah.

Polehinke: (05:44:43.2) You know it'd be nice to go over there and fly heavy metal, fly international, but they work you hard over there (JFK) I've been told.

___

Polehinke: (5:52:22) I'll take us to Atlanta.

Clay: (5:52:24) Sure.

___

Polehinke: (5:56:34) Right seat flex takeoff procedures off of um ... he said what runway? One of 'em. Two four.

Clay: (05:56:43) It's two two.

___

Clay: (06:00:09) Both kids were sick though, they, well they all got colds. It was an interesting dinner last night.

Polehinke: (06:00:16) Really.

Clay: (06:00:16) Huh, oh gosh.

Polehinke (06:00:19) How old are they?

Clay: (06:00:20) Three months and two years old. Who was sneezing, either nose wiped, diaper change. I mean that's all we did all night long.

Polehinke: (06:00:31) Oh yeah, I'm sure.

___

Polehinke: (6:06:07) Set thrust, please.

Clay: (6:06:11) Thrust set.

Polehinke: (6:06:13) That is weird with no lights.

Clay: (6:06:18) Yeah. One-hundred knots.

Polehinke: (6:06:25) Checks.

Clay: (6:06:31) V-one rotate. Whoa.

(6:06:33) Sound of impact, unintelligible exclamation.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; aircraft; comair; delta; faa; lexington
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They remarked about the lack of runway lights, but distracting talk and probably some "get-there-itis" prevented them from giving it a second thought.

Human error.

"No matter how hard you try to make something idiot-proof, they just keep coming out with improved idiots."

1 posted on 01/18/2007 11:40:36 AM PST by Erik Latranyi
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To: Erik Latranyi

Kind of chilling and very sad ... especially the guy talking about his little kids.


2 posted on 01/18/2007 11:44:48 AM PST by Ditto
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To: Erik Latranyi

We have a safety officer at every station in our volunteer fire department, who usually nags everyone constantly about protective equipment, apparatus use, tools, positioning, alertness, etc. It used to annoy me until I learned that it's usually the silly little stuff you don't give much thought to that gets you into trouble.


3 posted on 01/18/2007 11:45:49 AM PST by Spok
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To: Erik Latranyi

Would fully automated take-offs and landings by on-board computers, with a human pilot and navigator always present with the ability to over-ride, be safer? Is such a thing technically possible now?


4 posted on 01/18/2007 11:46:11 AM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Erik Latranyi

Here is the airport diagram for reference. Look at the difference in length between runway 26 and runway 22. There is no 24 (two four) as mentioned by Polehinke.

http://myairplane.com/databases/approach/pdfs/00697AD.PDF


5 posted on 01/18/2007 11:46:39 AM PST by Domandred
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
Notice that one can actually busy onesself to death?

Any bets that neither of these pilots had military experience? I do not know, but I say "not" as an educated guess.

6 posted on 01/18/2007 11:48:14 AM PST by Candor7 (The hope of the West disappears into liberal flatulance, and who wants to be a smart feller?)
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
Would fully automated take-offs and landings by on-board computers, with a human pilot and navigator always present with the ability to over-ride, be safer?

Perhaps it would be safer, but it will never eliminate human error 100%.

However, it should be noted that as a race, we are getting better at solving our deficiencies through technology.

7 posted on 01/18/2007 11:48:33 AM PST by Erik Latranyi (The Democratic Party will not exist in a few years....we are watching history unfold before us.)
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To: Domandred

Also note the minimum takeoff distance for a CRJ is about 1,768 meters which is 5,800 feet. Runway 26 is only 3500 feet in length.


8 posted on 01/18/2007 11:50:02 AM PST by Domandred
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To: Domandred
There is no 24 (two four) as mentioned by Polehinke.

But, the pilot corrects him at that point and indicates it is 22.

Neither one looked at a compass to check, even after they remarked about the lack of runway lighting.

9 posted on 01/18/2007 11:51:07 AM PST by Erik Latranyi (The Democratic Party will not exist in a few years....we are watching history unfold before us.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

If it had been daytimne this never whould have happened. We need to stop flying planes at night. And when it's cloudy.

It's just too darned dangerous.


10 posted on 01/18/2007 11:51:34 AM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world today than Nazism was in 1938.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

What's sad is that neither took the extra few minutes to check why there weren't any runway lights.


11 posted on 01/18/2007 11:52:48 AM PST by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: RobRoy
We need to stop flying planes at night. And when it's cloudy.

Let's just go back to horse and buggies.....wait......let's just go back to walking......no.....let's just stay home.

12 posted on 01/18/2007 11:52:56 AM PST by Erik Latranyi (The Democratic Party will not exist in a few years....we are watching history unfold before us.)
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To: lilylangtree
What's sad is that neither took the extra few minutes to check why there weren't any runway lights.

Yes, and as another poster pointed out, they did not check their runway when the FO called it wrong (24) and the pilot corrected him and said (22).

13 posted on 01/18/2007 11:54:26 AM PST by Erik Latranyi (The Democratic Party will not exist in a few years....we are watching history unfold before us.)
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To: Erik Latranyi
(6:06:33) Sound of impact, unintelligible exclamation.

Being military aircrew and a private pilot, I can tell you with 99% probability what that last "unintelligible exclamation" was.

Four letters and starts with an "S".

14 posted on 01/18/2007 11:55:13 AM PST by grobdriver (Let the embeds check the bodies!)
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To: lilylangtree
If you examine the time stamps on their comments, it appears they were rolling down the runway at near 100kts at that point. Sad


Polehinke: (6:06:13) That is weird with no lights.
Clay: (6:06:18) Yeah. One-hundred knots.
15 posted on 01/18/2007 11:57:12 AM PST by jaydubya2
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To: Erik Latranyi

Just because there's no lights doesn't mean they couldn't see the runway. Has there been an indication that this mattered in the crash?


16 posted on 01/18/2007 11:57:39 AM PST by Ramius ([sip])
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To: Ramius
Just because there's no lights doesn't mean they couldn't see the runway. Has there been an indication that this mattered in the crash?

The lack of lights was not a factor in the crash. The lack of lights was another indicator that they were on the wrong runway since runway 26 is not lit and runway 22 is lit. That is something clearly noted in the airport map.

17 posted on 01/18/2007 12:00:35 PM PST by Erik Latranyi (The Democratic Party will not exist in a few years....we are watching history unfold before us.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Yeah. Get the plasma and netflicks and life is good!


18 posted on 01/18/2007 12:01:50 PM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world today than Nazism was in 1938.)
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To: Ditto

I study air crashes and I can assure you that the final minutes of any CVR will be chilling. That's just the way it is. It's odd because these people don't know what's ahead.

This was a very bad case of human error - looking at the situation (the wrong runway, for one, and the lack of lights) you would be very surprised that something like this would happen.

This crash actually had a survivor, though.


19 posted on 01/18/2007 12:03:34 PM PST by flintsilver7
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To: flintsilver7
This crash actually had a survivor, though.

Yes, it was the FO who was at the controls.

I can imagine he must have a serious case of survivor's remorse.

20 posted on 01/18/2007 12:09:30 PM PST by Erik Latranyi (The Democratic Party will not exist in a few years....we are watching history unfold before us.)
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