CRJ1, Lexington KY USA, 2006

CRJ1, Lexington KY USA, 2006

Summary

On 27 August 2006, a Bombardier CRJ100 cleared for a night take off from runway 22 instead began take off on unlit runway 26. It was too short and the aircraft ran off the end at speed and was destroyed by the subsequent impact and post-crash fire with the deaths of 49 of the 50 occupants - the First Officer surviving with serious injuries. The Investigation found that the actions of the flight crew had caused the accident but noted that insufficiently robust ATC procedures had been contributory and the effects of an ongoing runway extension project had been relevant.

Description

On 27 August 2006, a Bombardier CRJ100 (N431CA) being operated by Comair on a scheduled passenger flight from Lexington KY to Atlanta GA as flight 5191 attempted to take off in normal night visibility from unlit runway 26 instead of runway 22 as cleared. The length of runway 26 was insufficient and the aircraft overran and was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire. All but one of the 50 occupants died - the First Officer survived with serious injuries.

The airport layout [reproduced from the Official Report]

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the NTSB. The FDR and 30 minute CVR were recovered from the wreckage and almost all of the potentially useful data they contained were successfully downloaded. The recording intervals for two parameters did not comply with the applicable regulations in a way that the Board had found in other regional jet investigations and a previous Safety Recommendation on this subject was re-iterated and re-classified whilst this Investigation was in progress.

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