Mon, Jul 23, 2007
Updates Reported Missing From Flight Dispatch Paperwork, NOTAM
Recording
Critical airport advisories weren't available to the pilots of
Comair Flight 5191 who mistakenly took off from a too-short runway
at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, KY in an accident that killed
49 people on August 27, 2006.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Sunday the Air Line Pilots
Association made a submission to the National Transportation Safety
Board that said the pre-recorded Notice to Airmen that night at LEX
did not include the fact that the normal taxiway to the main runway
was closed due to construction, that the distance-remaining lights
on the main runway were out of service or that the runway they were
about to take off from was for daytime use only.
The updates were also missing from the flight dispatch paperwork
the pilots received from Comair as well. The carrier has a policy
to rely on those pre-recorded messages to get the local information
to its pilots, according to the newspaper.
It is
unknown why these particular alerts were not recorded, according to
the president of the local National Air Traffic Controllers
Association chapter, Randy Harris. The NTSB and the ALPA did
not return calls from The Associated Press on Sunday.
As ANN has reported, this accident has rattled cages far and
wide. It has Comair suing the Federal Aviation Administration and
the NTSB, accusing the FAA of being lax in enforcing the recommendations
the agency made in the wake of the accident... and demanding the FAA be more aggressive in
doing so.
The pilots, Captain Jeffrey Clay and first officer James
Polehinke, thought they were taking off from the correct runway and
were possibly confused by the alternate route, flight data recorder
data indicated.
The NTSB is scheduled to release its findings Thursday.
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