4A NEWS
PLANE CRASH
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2006
Jet attempts take off on wrong runway, 49 killed
BY JEFFREY MCMURRAY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A commuter jet mistakenly trying to take off on a runway that was too short crashed into a field Sunday and burst into flames, killing 49 people and leaving the lone survivor — a co-pilot — in critical condition, federal investigators said.
Preliminary flight data from Comair Flight 5191's black box recorders and the damage at the scene indicate the plane, a CRJ-100 regional jet, took off from the shortest runway at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport, National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said.
The 3,500-foot-long strip, with less lighting and barely half the length of the airport's main runway, is only intended for daylight takeoffs and not for commercial flights. The twin-engine CRJ-100 would have needed 5,000 feet to fully get off the ground, aviation experts said.
It wasn't immediately clear how the plane ended up on the shorter runway in the predawn darkness. There was a light rain Sunday, and the strip veers off at a V from the main runway, which had just been repaved last week.
"We will be looking into performance data, we will be looking at the weight of the aircraft, we will be looking at speeds, we will pull all that information off," Hersman said.
The Atlanta-bound plane plowed through a perimeter fence and crashed in a field less than mile from the end of that runway at about 6:07 a.m. Aerial images of the crash site in the rolling hills of Kentucky's horse country showed trees damaged at the end of the short runway and the nose of the plane almost parallel to the small strip.
When rescuers reached it, the plane was largely intact but in flames. A police officer burned his arms dragging the only survivor from the cracked cockpit.
The flames kept rescuers from reaching anyone else aboard, including a newlyed couple starting their honeymoon, a Florida man who had caught an early flight home to be
David Stephenson/Lexington Herald-Leader
with his children and a University of Kentucky official among them.
"They were taking off, so I'm sure they had a lot of fuel on board." Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said. "Most of the injuries are going to be due to fire-related deaths."
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency had no indication that terrorism was involved in any way in what was the country's worst domestic plane crash in five years.
It's rare for a plane to get on the wrong runway, but "sometimes with the intersecting runways, pilots go down the wrong one," said Saint Louis University aerospace professor emeritus Paul Cyzsz.
The worst such crash came on Oct. 31, 2000, when a Los Angeles-bound Singapore Airlines jumbo jet mistakenly went down a runway at Taiwan's Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport that had been closed for repairs because of a recent
typhoon. The resulting collision with construction equipment killed 83 people on board.
Comair President Don Bonnorhorst said maintenance for the plane that crashed Sunday was up to date and its three-member flight crew was experienced and had been flying that airplane for some time.
"We are absolutely, totally committed to doing everything humanly possible to determine the cause of this accident," Bornhorst said. "One of the most damaging things that can happen to an investigation of this magnitude is for speculation or for us to guess at what may be happening."
Most of the passengers aboard the flight had planned to connect to other flights in Atlanta and did not have family waiting for them, said the Rev. Harold Boyce, a volunteer chaplain at Atlanta's Hartsfield-jackson airport.
Kevin Wolf/Associated Press
A commuter jet taking off for Atlanta crashed just past the runway and burst into flames, killing 49 people and leaving the lone survivor in critical condition.
The Hancock District is Oread Avenue to Mississippi Street on West 12th Street.
CROSSING (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
"For my presentation, there was an attempt to speak to the rules associated with development in the environs of a historic district," Morrow said. "Staff was kind enough to provide detailed descriptions of the historic nature of the district and in particular the character defining features of that district."
Morrow said he decided to design his own building model because he felt the proposition put forth by the developers wasn't ideal.
"I have some knowledge and experience here at this location and it was an appropriate time for me to put my two cents in," he said.
Debbie Milks, Oread neighborhood resident, said she approved of redevelopment, but she was concerned with the "massive size" of
Fire and impact marks are visible on the ground in a field west of Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., where Comair Flight 5191 crashed during take off on Sunday. Forty-nine people were killed.
the originally proposed building. Morrow's model got a more favorable response from members of the Oread group, with the exception of some outcry from members when Morrow said he wanted to expand the outdoor drinking area The Crossing currently had.
Developer Robert Pottrroff, the Manhattan attorney who initially proposed the reconstruction, was not present at the meeting.
The original plan called for the demolition of The Crossing, Yello Sub and a house at 1142 Indiana to make way for a five-story, mixed-using building that would combine 15 luxury condominiums and three retail shops.
The Historic Resources Commission's report stated that because the proposed building was located within the environs of the Hancock District and the Snow House, 706 W. 12th St., both listed
on National Register of Historic Places, it would not be approved. The report alluded to the proposed building's lack of "character defining features" and the demolition in a historic area as the main reasons for its denial.
Brian Foxworthy, an architect with Incite Design Studio and author of the original plan, wasn't surprised the initial proposal was denied.
"We really weren't naive enough to think that we were going to come in and get this thing done right off the bat," Foxworthy said. He added that some compromises would have to be made.
Kansan staff writer Jack Weinstein can be contacted at jweinstein@kansan.com.
— Edited by Kristen Jarboe
KU
HALL CENTER
FOR THE HUMANITIES
HUMANITIES LECTURE SERIES 2006-2007
One woman was there expecting her sister. The two had planned to fly together to catch an Alaskan cruise, Boyce said.
"Naturally, she was very sad," Boyce said. "She was handling it. She was in tears."
The only survivor of the crash was identified as first officer James M. Polehinke, 44, who was in critical condition after surgery at the University of Kentucky hospital.
ANDREI CODRESCU Monday, August 28
"He's very lucky," said Dr. Andrew C. Bernard, a trauma surgeon.
Lied Center
7:30 pm "An Evening with Andrei Codrescu"
The other crew members were Capt. Jeffrey Clay, who was hired by Erlanger, Ky-based Comair in 1999, and flight attendant Kelly Heyer, hired in 2004. Polehinke has been with Comair since 2002.
"A Conversation with Andrei Codrescu, Tuesday, August 29 at 10:00 am, Hall Center Conference Hall
This series is co-sponsored by Kansas Public Radio, and partial funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
All 49 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage, said Stacy Floden, spokeswoman for the state Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. No positive identifications had been made yet, and preliminary autopsies had been done on 16 or 17 bodies, she said.
The plane had undergone routine maintenance as recently as Saturday and had 14,500 flight hours, "consistent with aircraft of that age," Bornhorst said.
Investigators from the FAA and NTSB were at the scene, and Bornhorst said the airline was working to contact relatives of the passengers.
"We love the music. We come every year," she said.
Shannon Criss, associate professor of architecture, was there with her husband and two children.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher cut short a trip to Germany and was returning to Kentucky on Monday afternoon,
"The president was deeply sadened by the news of the plane crash in Kentucky today," she said. "His sympathies are with the many families of the victims of this tragedy."
"It's so tragic because he was so happy last night," said Keith Madison, who coached Hooker's baseball team at the University of Kentucky and attended the wedding. "It's just an incredible turn of events. It's really painful."
Among those killed were a newlywed couple starting their honeymoon. Jon Hooker, a former minor-league baseball player, had just married Scarlett Parsley the night before the crash in a fairy tale wedding ceremony complete with a horse-drawn carriage and 300 friends.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said President Bush, who is spending a long weekend at his family's summer home on the Maine coast, was being briefed on the crash.
The crash marks the end of what has been called the "safest period in aviation history" in the United States. There has not been a major crash since Nov. 12, 2001 when American Airlines Flight 587 plunged into a residential neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., killing 265 people, including five on the ground.
spokeswoman Jodi Whitaker said.
When it became too dark for musicians to play their stringed instruments from the stage area, they moved into the dim spotlight of a streetlight and continued to play until there were only five musicians and a handful of listeners left.
A free ice cream social complemented the entertainment.
FIDDLE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Some people sat in the grass with their dogs while others danced along to the music.
Alchevegris are free and open to the public. No tickets are required.
When one song ended, the players gracefully transitioned into another one as if the performance was rehearsed. An older man with a white beard stood among a young boy from Colorado, a nationally recognized player in his 20s and several middle-aged men. Some of the players knew each other and others were strangers, but their harmony and jolly disposition suggested that they were old friends. At 9:15 p.m., a sixth man showed up.
Kansan staff writer Darla Slipke can be contacted at dslipke@ kansan.com.
"It's a different language," Mason said. "We can stand around and improvise fiddle tunes back and forth, and it's like standing around in a cocktail bar."
"Bluegrass usually has that sense of community," Hall said. "There's not many other types of music that can get an 11-year-old and a 60-year-old playing together."
Steve Mason, Lawrence resident, said he's probably only missed three competitions since he moved here in 1980.
"Yall aren't quitting yet, are you?" Mike Hall, Topeka senior, said.
He joined the group, which continued to play into the night.
Edited by Kate Shipley
PLAN B (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
As a prescription, Plan B costs $39.88 at Wal-Mart, but Donaldson said most drugs go down in price when they become available over the counter.
Wal-Mart pharmacies will also carry Plan B. Michelle Donaldson, relief staff pharmacist at several Wal-Mart pharmacies in Lawrence, Bonner Springs and Leavenworth said she expected over-the-counter Plan B to be available within a month.
Prescription Plan B isn't in high demand at Wal-Mart pharmacies. Donaldson said she's only filled one prescription for the drug in the past six months, but she's sure that will change once it's available over the counter.
Access to morning-after pill
Donaldson said as a pharmacist, it's important to tell patients how to use Plan B. She said she will be more detailed giving patients information about Plan B because it has to be taken exactly right for it to work.
"We've already had someone come in and ask for it today," she said on Saturday.
Barr Pharmaceuticals has been granted approval to sell the morning-after pill to women over 18 without a prescription. Currently, nine states do not require a prescription under certain conditions.
SOURCE: Pharmacy Access Partnership
Associated Press
Kansan staff writer Anna Faltermeier can be contacted at afaltermeier@kansan.com.
Edited by Kristen Jarboe
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