Plane Crashes in Lexington

WTVQ 36 Lexington ^ | August 27, 2006 | Jon Sasser

[BigBlueJon]

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.

[Tanglefoot]

I'm not used to posting and addressed my previous post to CedarDave. I meant to just post a general post.

Something else that was on my mind that I forgot in my other post. The new construction and configuration would probably be new to the tower controller too.

This could have been the first time the controller saw it, or the first time the controller saw it at night. Even if it wasn't the first time the controller saw it ........... it would still be somewhat new to the controller.

I don't know how different that would look from the tower.

I am not trying to make any excuses from anyone. It's just that I have no experience as a pilot and a bunch of years as a controller and know a little bit more about the controller aspect.

[toldyou]

Thanks!

[Florida524]

I know there was a jumpseater, I know his name unfortunately. As for talking during takeoff roll, this is highly unlikely, because in my 10,000 hours of flying time, even the rule bending talkers don't talk during a takeoff roll.

We do have to ask though, how you could mistake a runway with MIRL out of service for a runway with runway lights especially on a predawn flight.

[Tanglefoot]

I suppose it could be distraction. As a controller, it seems as if the least busy times were the most dangerous. We controllers back then were no as observant and became distracted at times. I can remember one time in particular that our tower crew was very lucky that a tragedy didn't occur. I would suppose that happens with flight crews too. It is easier to stay on your toes during busy, stressful times.

I don't know if this is the place for this. I am certainly from an "old school", I reckon. I became a controller more 44 years ago. One thing that was drilled into me was that it is almost always a chain of events that result in the accident. If one event in that chain of events doesn't happen, then most likely the accident doesn't happen.

Just going from memory, it seems that the chain usually had 3 main events. It was impressed on me, never to let that first event happen.

I don't know what happened here. It seems that the flight crew did some things wrong, resulting in taking off on the wrong runway. Perhaps the controller did something wrong or was unable to stop it. I believe the construction and new configuration is also a factor in this.

Any one of those things doesn't happen ............ perhaps the accident doesn't happen.

This is a terrible thing to happen. All have my prayers.

[Painful]

Yes, I do see the control tower's location on the airport chart, and its right there at the approach end of both Runway 22 & 26, so the tower controller should've had a good view of an aircraft taxiing to Rwy 22 or 26. Now I wonder what the official weather was at the time. There is a possibility that fog may have obscurred the tower controller's view, and if that's the case, the controller has nothing to rely upon except what the pilot tells us, versus what we can see. Hard to help a pilot avoid disaster if we can't see them.

[Painful]

It would be great if EVERY airport in the U.S. had the ASDE-X ground radar system... when it works properly, it truly is a great system that every airport SHOULD have. But in this day and age of "doing more with less," smaller airports (like LEX) don't stand a chance of getting it in the forseeable future.

Like you quoted the ATCer on AOL, the FAA can't even manage to get it to some of the bigger airports, much less the smaller ones.

[reagandemo]

Good point. While I was up and around at theat time there were intermittent showers passing by. Also, the tower is approximatly 100 feet tall and it could have been in foggy conditions. However, I still thank that it would be very improbable for the tower to have a completely obscured vision of that part of the taxi, runways.

[Tanglefoot]

I think you meant to post to don-o

I don't know anything about cockpit rules or silence during the takeoff roll. I flew as often as I could in the cocpit while I was in the navy. I don't remember any talking during takeoff roll except for calling out the "V" stuff. I had not really thought about it before now.

Taking off without runway lights is puzzling. I don't know the reason for that, without at least asking the tower about it.

[Painful]

Well I did a little digging around on the government's weather website.... and the official weather reported by LEX's automated weather system at the time of the accident was:

KLEX 271054Z 22008KT 8SM FEW047 BKN060 OVC090 23/20 A3002 RMK AO2 RAB12E51

First off, know that automated weather observations are taken at an airport between 45 and 55 minutes past each hour, or more often if the weather changes by certain perameters. For example, if the visibility goes from 7 miles to 2 miles, a "SPECI" obvseration would occur. For a translation of the above weather observation:

KLEX is the ICAO identifier for LEX (Lexington's 3 letter identifier)

271054Z was the GMT date and time... 27th day, 1054z *which is 6:54am Eastern Standard Time* (GMT time is +4 hours ahead of EST)

22008KT means the wind was out of the southwest (from a 220 degree bearing) at 08 knots. So this was a perfect headwind for a Rwy 22 departure.

8SM means the visibility was 8 statue miles

FEW047 means that there were "a few" clouds(less that 2/8's of the sky) at 4,700 feet

BKN060 means another layer at 6000' -- BKN stands for "broken" which constitutes over 5/8 of the sky, and would be enough cloud cover to be called a "ceiling."

OVC090 means another layer was at 9000' -- the OVC stands for Overcast.

23/20 is the temperature/dewpoint in Celsius

A3002 is the altimeter setting of 30.02

AO2 means it was an automated weather observation

RAB12E51 means that rain began at 12 mins past the hour and ended at 51 minutes past the hour.

Bottom line folks.... 8 miles visibility, no low clouds. Weather at the airport was not a factor, and surely wouldn't have prohibited the controller from seeing this event about to unfold. However, also one footnote to this wonderful automated weather system. They aren't perfect. I've seen ours report 10+ visibility and I couldn't see 3 miles. They have their flaws like any other manmade object. But if this weather report was truly indicative of the weather at LEX, it did not play a role in this incident at all.

[george76]

Thanks for the post.

This explains many of the loose ends.

[Painful]

Very well said, sir. Everything you said was 100% right on the money!

[reagandemo]

Good work looking that information up. It's looking more and more as most accidents a series of little mistakes contribute to a big one. I can see the loan traffic controller at the end of his shift not concerned about the position of the plane and concentrating on something else while the pilots not familiar with the new changes in the taxi routes being confused of their location and not noticing their compass reading.

[Painful]

It almost seems like you should be able to stick up some RFID receivers at various taxiways and outfit jets with an active RFID tag. Then the jet would need to pass the correct tag before being given clearance, or would get an error message is passing the wrong tag. Maybe I'm just oversimplifying...

Now why would the FAA ever do anything that made common sense? I like your thought process though!!! Seems like something simple could be done to prevent these type of incidents from occuring.

Most of our equiptment and procedures are so outdated it's amazing that you don't see these kind of accidents happen more frequently. I think its a testament to all the skilled professionals in the aviation industry that keep it running with so few incidents. You hate to see ANY happen at all, but these type of events could be happening on a regular basis.

[george76]

Thank you for the detailed information.

Welcome to FR.

The many people like you help make this site very valuable and informative.

The extensive shared knowledge is great.

My question : Will the entrances in the two different runways need to be physically changed or will better signage be enough for the future ?

[trthskr]

With regards to weather: the WLEX-TV station replay of weather through the time of the accident showed a "cell" of rain that passed across the end of the runway about the time of take-off. ~ 6:06-6:08 am. The weather reporter characterized the cell as "collapsing" with some reference to the likelihood of downdrafts. The center of the cell crossed Keeneland race track, not the end of the runway. The point may be moot. A photo in this morning's Lexington Herald showed the path of the plane through the top of the chain link fence off the end of the runway. Beyond that was the first row of trees...several limbs of ~12-14" were sheared off (12-16' above the ground).

[Florida524]

I think you all might be on the wrong track here. The weather was irrelevant in this case. The time of day (dawn), wrong runway (associated with the poor airport design), aircraft weight for runway length, and failure of any party to break the "chain" of events that caused this accident, not the weather. The FAA needs the blame on this too, because clearances prior to an aircraft holding short to the runway on which it is intending on taking off needs to stop.

[Painful]

Thanks George, for The Welcome.

As for your question about will the runway entrances need to be changed... that will fall squarely upon the NTSB, and IMO will be one of their recommendations. I have no doubt that they are properly marked right now. But something obviously needs to be done to prevent this kind of tragedy from occurring in the future.

[Painful]

Very good observation and comment. Those official weather observations simply represent the latest weather at the time of the observation--- and not the weather at the time the airplane actually took off. So if what WLEX-TV said is true, then the weather could've possibly distracted the flight crew from taking off from the correct runway. For as much as we like to speculate, I have no doubt there were several links in the chain that caused this incident.

[Painful]

In case anyone would like to do a little reading on what the rules/requirements of the controller are for clearing aircraft for takeoff...

http://www.faa.gov/atpubs/ATC/Chp3/atc0301.html#3-1-7

The Local Controller would be the one responsible for the runway... The Ground Controller would be responsible for the taxiways. Since there was most likely just one controller on duty at the time of this incident, he/she would be responsible for both the runway and taxiways (obviously).

[CedarDave]

I think you all might be on the wrong track here. The weather was irrelevant in this case.

The weather may have been irrelevant in directly causing the crash, but may have played a part in causing the pilot to miss lining up on the correct runway.

I'm willing to bet the shorter runway lights were on even though they were listed as out of service. Seeing the runway lights lit and remembering the notice said Runway 26 lights were out of service, the pilots could have assumed they were lined up correctly (there being only two runways). A light mist/rain could have obscured the end of the runway lights (what's the minimum visibility for visual takeoff? 500 ft.? Quarter mile?).

I read (IIRC) that there were two earlier departures yesterday morning. If so, they should be queried as to what the conditions, especially runway lighting, were when they took off.

The local ABC affiliate has an interview with John Nance who said that accidents are caused by a series of events that culminate with the accident. I imaging that will be the case here. ( Aviation Expert: What May Have Happened This video also has an excellent view of the new runway configuration)