Unsealed files shed light on 2006 Kentucky crash
- Thread starter CBC News
- Start date
We looked at this accident when it happened and now there is more complete information. This was not one glaring error but a whole series of things that contributed to the deaths of forty nine of the fifty people on board:
1. The jet taxi route had been changed the week before the accident.
2. It was early pre-dawn and the runways were unlighted.
3. The lone traffic controller apparently had little sleep because of double shifting.
4. There was no attempt by the controller to lead them through the route changes to the right runway.
5. Runways are named by their compass heading and it should have been obvious to the pilots that they were not on the right runway.
6. It should also have been obvious to the controller that the aircraft was on the wrong runway...if he had been watching.
7. The pilots should have seen that the runway was too short, and they might have if the runway lights had been on.
Like I said, a whole series of things contributed in varying degrees to this accident. Ironically, the co-pilot, who was the only survivor, doesn't remember the accident.
1. The jet taxi route had been changed the week before the accident.
2. It was early pre-dawn and the runways were unlighted.
3. The lone traffic controller apparently had little sleep because of double shifting.
4. There was no attempt by the controller to lead them through the route changes to the right runway.
5. Runways are named by their compass heading and it should have been obvious to the pilots that they were not on the right runway.
6. It should also have been obvious to the controller that the aircraft was on the wrong runway...if he had been watching.
7. The pilots should have seen that the runway was too short, and they might have if the runway lights had been on.
Like I said, a whole series of things contributed in varying degrees to this accident. Ironically, the co-pilot, who was the only survivor, doesn't remember the accident.
I was a pilot in the RCAF about a hundred years ago. I was on a couple accident boards and this accident caught my eye last year when it happened. The same pilots in the same aircraft might have done this flight a thousand times, in the same weather without a hitch, but this one time, everything seemed to be against them.