Comair airport pic

[LCHIEN]

http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en...05611&t=k&om=1

Just playing around with google maps. Here's a clear satellite picture of the Louisville KY "Bluegrass" airport runway showing clearly the runway markings 22 and 26 and the taxiways.

[JoeyGee]

Was that before or after the repaving they did "recently" before the crash? I don't know the details, only that it was repaved recently.

Either way, it was an avoidable tragedy.

[Howard]

It's always a combination of different events but if either pilot had bothered to look at the HSI or compass, they would have seen a heading of 260 instead of what they were supposed to see 220. Simple as that. That should have told them something was wrong. I normally fly into and out of single runway airports so it isn't a problem but these guys were pros and should have known better

[gary]

I live 5 miles from there.

Here is a more recent picture.



I think you'll find this to be a key cause. The centerline lights were out on the main runway due to repaving. The short runway has no centerline lights. So the pilots line up on the short runway and as they expected, no centerline lights.


... noted in an e-mail that Blue Grass Airport's general aviation Runway 26 -- the one Flight 5191 ultimately used -- has no center lights. Because the center lights on Runway 22 also were not operating, Katzman said, an important visual cue that might have helped pilots distinguish between the two runways was missing.
Katzman added, however, that pilots would have been informed of the lighting situation through what is known as a "notice to airmen." But he called the lighting change "noteworthy."

[LCHIEN]

Was that before or after the repaving they did "recently" before the crash? I don't know the details, only that it was repaved recently.

Either way, it was an avoidable tragedy.

oh, you'll find those satellite pics are almost always averaging a couple of years old.
Would be real nice to have near real time pictures of any place in the world available on the internet, now wouldn't it? I'll bet even the pentagon and CIA would like to have that.

[drumpriest]

I know that google maps has updated in the last year, but don't know how old the newer images are. My brother's fence is up at his house, and that has been there for about 2 years, so not TOO old.

[LCHIEN]

I know that google maps has updated in the last year, but don't know how old the newer images are. My brother's fence is up at his house, and that has been there for about 2 years, so not TOO old.

I look at quite a few images of new places and places I know well for comparison and find the aerial photos on Mapquest and Google Maps and the like tend to be a couple of years old. You can tell by activity at buildings since shut down and closed, by progress of construction of roads and buildings and by the landscaping of new parks and properties and contruction of homes in new suburbs.

[jackellis]

Not only were these guys pros, there were two of them in the cockpit with two HSIs and a compass to look at.

To be fair, we need to wait on the NTSB report but the apparent underlying cause is complacency. I don't fly into airports with intersecting runways very often either but from now on, I'll be taking a good look at my compass before takeoff.

[LCHIEN]

Not only were these guys pros, there were two of them in the cockpit with two HSIs and a compass to look at.

To be fair, we need to wait on the NTSB report but the apparent underlying cause is complacency. I don't fly into airports with intersecting runways very often either but from now on, I'll be taking a good look at my compass before takeoff.

There was clear communication on what runway to use. There was an FAA advisory that the only the center lights on the main runway were out.

After they made the WORNG turn, they clearly messd up when they noted all the runway lights off but raised no QUESTIONS and didn't do anything about CHECKING the compass. (Three errors).

[germdoc]

There are reasons I don't like to fly. This is one of them.

Sartin's Law of Probability involving risky behaviors: the probability of dying in an airplane crash is vanishingly small if one never sets foot on an airplane. Ditto for parachuting, snorkeling with sting rays, wrestling crocodiles, etc.

[LCHIEN]

There are reasons I don't like to fly. This is one of them.

Sartin's Law of Probability involving risky behaviors: the probability of dying in an airplane crash is vanishingly small if one never sets foot on an airplane. Ditto for parachuting, snorkeling with sting rays, wrestling crocodiles, etc.

A small but finite number of people are killed by falling airplanes...

[germdoc]

I try never to walk under an airplane as it's falling. I'm superstitious about such things.