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.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.comair.com, www.alpa.org