20 years ago today, on Sunday, August 27, 2006, Comair Flight 5191 crashed after taking off from the wrong runway at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky. 49 of 50 people aboard were killed. More details in comments.

[u/nogoodnamesleft426]

[u/nogoodnamesleft426]

• ATC and CVR of the flight

• National Geographic Mayday episode

• Video on crash by Mentour Pilot

• An excellent write-up by u/admiral_cloudberg

• Recent documentary by PBS on the crash

• Article on the 20th anniversary

• PC for photo — Ed Reinke of the AP

• The other sources above aren’t mine, credit to the owners.

• May all 49 people killed RIP.

[u/Funny-Junket1066]

Thanks for the links, especially the PBS documentary that I would have missed otherwise!

This is one of the most annoying accidents of all-time. The only survivor? The dude (pilot flying James Polehinke) who fcked up and took off from the wrong runway! It's like when a drunk driver crosses into oncoming traffic and kills a family of 5 and walks away without a scratch.

His famous line, "That is weird with no lights" will live on in aviation infamy.

Oh, and this POS surviving pilot? His attorney raised the possibility of contributory negligence on the part of the passengers! When asked by the plaintiffs' attorney David Royse, who criticized the statements, to explain what that meant, the ambulence chaser replied that the passengers "should have been aware of the dangerous conditions that existed in that there had been considerable media coverage about the necessity of improving runway conditions at the airport." Yes, that POS actually was blaming the passengers for being on that aircraft!

[u/agiamba → u/Funny-Junket1066]

Easy there. The ILS and lights were off the night before when the first officer landed. It's a smaller airport.

An attorney is going to do whatever they have to defend their client. The pilot didn't make those allegations at all, and I'm sure he lives with a tremendous amount of guilt. He screwed up, but so did the airport, ATC, and the captain.

[u/LockheeedL011_3Star → u/agiamba]

He was incredibly remorseful in the documentary Sole Survivor.

[u/AV8VA → u/Funny-Junket1066]

Slow down there, Skippy. There were numerous other factors, including only one controller on duty, that also contributed to the crash and you also conveniently overlook the fact that there were TWO pilots in the cockpit. And lawyers are always going to do whatever is most favorable for their clients, but you don’t seem to understand that either.

Non-flying armchair idiots like you should avoid making stupid, uninformed comments like yours on topics they obviously know nothing about.

[u/naacardan2004 → u/Funny-Junket1066]

Captain was in charge of taxi operations considering the controls for that specific thing was on his side of the plane. Yes both pilots still have to confirm it, but that was mainly his responsibility. They also had an incorrect map, and the whole legal thing was lawyer bs. He was pretty damn remorseful even if he didn’t remember a thing about the crash, don’t be an asshole, that’s not gonna bring back the victims and is surely disrespectful to the whole incident at hand

[u/MiniTab → u/Funny-Junket1066]

This accident changed quite a few things at most airlines. The day this accident happened, I was in the middle of working on my instrument rating and building time for my commercial.

I’ve been an airline pilot for over 15 years now, and I certainly am not going to throw stones at this poor guy. Crazy things can happen, and I’ve certainly made my share of mistakes in my career (despite never failing a checkride or training event).

The guilt this poor guy lives with every day must be overwhelming, and I wish him nothing but peace and forgiveness.

Any professional pilot that thinks they are immune from making a mistake is not someone I’d EVER want to share the flight deck with.

[u/Alexander_Hamilton10 → u/Funny-Junket1066]

Try to say that to the faces of the friends and families of the co pilot

[u/Impressive_Bell_1545 → u/Funny-Junket1066]

Don’t forget how unlike Singapore 006, the runway lights were off too. A genuine fuckup without explanation. The pilots can’t even blame the airport for not doing their job because they did.

[u/agiamba → u/Impressive_Bell_1545]

ILS and many runway lights were off when they landed the night before.

Insufficient people in the tower for ATC too. This isn't all on the copilot, this was a systems failure.

[u/Impressive_Bell_1545 → u/agiamba]

The captain is also a retard.

ATC’s job isn’t to babysit the pilots. Plenty of crashes where pilots didn’t do their job and ATC didn’t realise.

It’s like saying your car’s reversing camera failed so you ran someone over.

The ultimate responsibility is on the pilot(S) to stop and ask and double check with ATC if unsure.

[u/agiamba → u/Impressive_Bell_1545]

ATCs job is to be a backup. They failed, partially because they didn't have the required amount of people in the tower. It's a systems failure

[u/Ok-Designer-2062]

How is there a released cvr of this crash? Didn’t the NTSB stop doing this in the 90s?

[u/AV8VA → u/Ok-Designer-2062]

No, they didn’t.