Posted on 08/27/2006 4:38:10 AM PDT by BigBlueJon
Edited on 08/27/2006 5:02:21 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Possible plane crash in Lexington, KY. My brother works security for Lexington UK Hospital and was just called in. No news locally or on major news outlets yet. I didn't want to post anything for fear of being wrong, but he's still waiting for an official call while on stand-by.
Update from WTVQ 36 Lexington:
A plane has crashed near the Blue Grass Airport this morning. No word on details at this time. We are told it was a commercial aircraft. Versailles Road is blocked as emergency vehicles circle around the site. We have live coverage beginning at 7:20am. Stay with Action News 36 for more details.
Thanks for posting the map. It looks like the captain may have stopped his taxi to the longer runway roo soon. See the dark splotch where the terminal appears to be? To get to the departure end of the long runway, he'd have to go past the departure end of the short runway and continue on a little more. It appears to me that they may have stopped the taxi and turned to their takeoff position too soon.
But what the heck was happening with the controller working tower?! Here at our local field, I've heard alert local controllers practically jump through the microphone at a clueless student pilot who read back a "hold short" instruction as a "position and hold" instruction, and then "position and hold" as "cleared fo rtakeoff." They were asked to taxi back and call the tower.
Yep. A 75-foot-wide runway looks a LOT different than a 15-foot-wide one. Lit vs. unlit. Gawd.
oops.
nosie nazis = noise nazis
I'd rather fly with that pilot. I don't mind waiting out weather that exceeds the pilot's personal minimums, or judgment. I respect that.
Thanks!
I heard a report that ATC didn't have visual contact with the aircraft. Is is possible that the position/anti-collision lights were not illuminated?
I would assume that bankrupt airlines still have insurance policies.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4144490.html
Aug. 27, 2006, 4:01PM
Newlyweds among plane crash victims
By WILL GRAVES Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A newlywed couple starting their honeymoon and a man who took an early flight to get home to his children were among the victims of Comair Flight 5191, friends and relatives said Sunday.
The afternoon before the crash, Scarlett Parsley had arrived in a horse drawn carriage for a fairy tale wedding to Jon Hooker.
"It was the happiest she'd been," said Jarod Martin, a longtime friend who was among the 300 people at the ceremony at Lexington's Headley-Whitley Museum. "It couldn't have been more perfect."
They were leaving for a honeymoon in California when their commuter flight to Atlanta crashed just after takeoff, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard.
"It's so tragic because he was so happy last night," said Keith Madison, who coached Hooker's baseball team at the University of Kentucky and attended the wedding. "It's just an incredible turn of events. It's really painful."
Hooker, 27, had signed a free agent with the Chicago White Sox in June 2001 and played professionally for Independent League teams in Fargo, N.D., and Joliet, Ill., before returning to his hometown. He was working as a parole counselor and social worker while Parsley, 23, was in graduate school at Kentucky, Madison said.
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks general manager Josh Buchholz said Sunday was "a sad day for Fargo." Hooker helped the Redhawks win the Independent League championship in 2003.
"He touched a lot of people's lives," Buchholz said.
A moment of silence was held for the crash victims before the Dodgers-Diamondbacks game in Phoenix, where Hooker's former Kentucky teammate Brandon Webb is a pitcher.
Another passenger, Charles Lykins of Naples, Fla., wanted an early flight Sunday so he could get home to his two young children after visiting friends and family in the Lexington area, said Paul Richardson of Winchester.
Mike Finley, 52, who lived in Corbin and owned the Finley Fun Centers, was headed to Reno, Nev., for a rollerskating convention, said his son, David Taylor.
"I'd say there's thousands of kids who grew up with our father," he said.
Rick Queen, who works for Turfway Realty in Lexington, said his father-in-law, Les Morris, was on the flight.
Queen and Taylor were both frustrated with how Delta handled the families.
"I just felt Delta ran families around this morning for three hours. I finally got some help from a Lexington firefighter," Taylor said.
The only survivor among the 50 people aboard the plane was the flight's first officer, James M. Polehinke. He was pulled from the burning wreckage by a policeman and two airport workers and taken to University of Kentucky Hospital, where he was list in critical condition.
The pilot, Jeffery Clay, had been with Comair since 1999 and became captain in 2004, Comair President Don Bornhorst said.
Flight attendant Kelly Heyer was single and lived in the Cincinnati area. He had been working for the airline since 2004 and was recently appointed base representative for the flight attendant union said Tracy Riley, a union secretary and fellow Comair flight attendant.
"He was a standup individual," Riley said. "He was very professional, loved the job."
Bornhorst described his own reaction as "complete devastation" and he lamented the frustration of the families as they awaited word.
"When tragedies like this happen, information can just not be relayed fast enough and I certainly understand the frustrations related to that," Bornhorst said.
And they hated the Jason's sandwiches they were served. Why couldn't they have brought them red beans and rice and some chitin's?
hehehe
No offense, but that is completely wrong. Just completely wrong. I don't know what your friend in P-3s told you, but you have to remember that the P-3 is a prop plane, not a jet. It is a very different story for jet rated aviators.
Another news conference imminent, this time with NTSB officials.
Thanks for the ping to this article, RDTF.
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The pilot, Jeffery Clay, had been with Comair since 1999 and became captain in 2004, Comair President Don Bornhorst said. "
NTSB's Hersman and Cedore: (summary) No problems with the black boxes; "end scars" at the end of 26, "preliminary data" that aircraft was lined up 26 on takeoff.
Don't know if this has been posted. Just in case not...
Below is a partial list of victims confirmed by various sources by LEX 18 of the crash of Comair flight 5191 Sunday morning, with ages and hometowns listed when possible:
Capt. Jeffrey Adam Clay, Burlington, KY (pilot)
Kelly J. Heyer, 27, Cincinnati (flight attendant)
Dan Mallory, Lexington
Leslie and Kaye Morris, Lexington
John Hooker, 27, and Scarlet Parsley Hooker, 23, London
Mike Finley, 52, London
Holly Gilbert, London
Bobby Meaux, Harrodsburg
Cecile Moscoux
Erik Harris
Bryan Byrd, Richmond
Judy Rains, Richmond
Pat Smith, Lexington
Larry Turner, Lexington
C.W. Fortney
Bart Frederick, Danville
Carole Bizzack, Richmond
George Brunacini, Lexington
Charles Lykins, Naples, FL
Jeff Williams, 49, Lexington
Source: http://www.wlextv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5331989&nav=menu203_1_16
Thanks for pinging me, RDTF...it is heartbreaking...the personal stories.
My son is a pilot and stories like this must give me the willies...I keep wondering if I will end up as a "loved one" one day...
NTSB briefing confirms they were on 26. Scars at the end of the runway, plus digital flight recorder says they were on 260 heading.
As we already knew, wrong runway.
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