Long Description:The cause of the crash has been attributed to pilot error for
taking off on the wrong runway. There was one air traffic
controller on duty that morning even though the FAA had recommended
two. The pilots took off of the shorter runway, runway 26, which
was much too short for their take-off. They should have taken off
down runway 22. Co-pilot Polehinke even noted on the flight data
recorder that it was weird that the runway did not have lights.
Runway 22 did not have lights because it was meant for daytime,
smaller aircraft landings. The airport had recently undergone
construction and runway reconfiguration and marking had occured.
That updated information was not provided to the pilots by Comair.
The plane struck a berm at the end of the runway, becoming
airborne momentarily before crashing about 1,000 feet from the
runway, going through a field and trees. The plane caught fire. It
is thought that most of the passengers and crew died instantly.
James Polehinke, the first officer, suffered injuries including
multiple broken bones, a collapsed lung, and severe bleeding. He
was pulled from the wreckage by Lexington-Fayette and airport
police officers, and underwent surgery for his injuries, including
an amputation of his left leg. Doctors later determined that
Polehinke had suffered brain damage and has no memory of the crash
or the events leading up to it. As of August 2007 Polehinke was
confined to a wheelchair. During the same month Polehinke filed a
lawsuit against the airport and the company that designed the
runway and taxi lights
The afternoon before the crash, Scarlett Parsley had arrived in
a horse drawn carriage for a fairy tale wedding to Jon Hooker.
Hooker had played college baseball for the University of Kentucky
with 2006 CY Young Award Winner Brandon Webb. They were on their
way to the honeymoon when the plane crashed. The decorations from
their reception at the Headley-Whitley Museum in Lexington were
still up as the plane crashed. The owner of the farm where the
plane crashed found Hooker's wedding ring months after the NTSB had
left the scene.
There was a teenage girl from Oklahoma visiting the area with
her mother and horse trainer to pick a horse. The flight was
overbooked and the mother decided she would take a later flight and
let her daughter and her trainer take Flight 5191. She was at the
airport when the plane crashed.
The following information comes from Wikipedia
(visit link)
The aircraft involved, N431CA, was a 50-seat Bombardier Canadair
Regional Jet CRJ-100ER, serial number 7472. Manufactured in Canada
in January 2001, it was delivered to the airline on January 30,
2001.
The crew consisted of Captain Jeffrey Clay, 35, who was hired by
Comair in November 1999, First Officer James M. Polehinke, 44, who
was hired in March 2002, and flight attendant Kelly Heyer, 27,
hired in July 2004. Comair president Don Bornhorst stated in a
press conference that Clay was very familiar with the aircraft.
The flight was sold under the Delta brand as Delta Flight 5191
(DL5191) and was operated by Comair as Comair Flight 191
(OH191/COM191). The flight had been scheduled to land at
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 7:18 a.m.
From the webpage
(visit link)
Sculpture Memorializes Flight 5191 Victims
Media Contact: Whitney Hale, (859) 257-1754, x229
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 24, 2007) - With the anniversary of the crash
of Comair Flight 5191 coming on Monday, the University of Kentucky
Art Museum has installed a 23 foot fiber sculpture called
"MEMORIAL: 5191" by renowned artist and UK professor Arturo Alonzo
Sandoval. The sculpture memorializes the 49 victims of the flight
bound to Atlanta that departed from Lexington's Bluegrass
airport.
Sandoval's piece is part of the UK Art Faculty Exhibition featuring
work by UK art faculty, which will open in Sept. 1. However,
"MEMORIAL: 5191" will be made available for public viewing Monday,
August 27.
Sandoval describes "MEMORIAL: 5191" as a mixed media installation
depicting his personal beliefs in life after death. The fiber
sculpture measures 12 feet x 12 feet square at its base and 23 feet
high. All 49 Comair 5191 victims are represented in the main spiral
design on the Hubble Telescope image of the Eagle Nebula.
Sandoval is a member of the faculty at the UK Department of Art.
His experimental techniques and expressive interpretations in fiber
art over his three-decade long career have earned him an
international reputation. Sandoval is the 2007 recipient of the
Albert D. and Elizabeth H. Kirwan Memorial Prize, which recognized
the numerous awards and international recognition that the
artist/educator has achieved over the last four years.
There is currently no public memorial at the scene of the crash.
However, the owner of the farm plans to build a memorial that the
families that lost loved ones and the public can visit. Right now
the site is Posted as No Trespassing and the entrance to the crash
site is roped off.
