Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 28, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press monday August 28, 2006 top news a7 plane crash in Kentucky kills 49 people two canadians were among the dead passengers by Jeffrey Mcmurray l Lexington by. ? a commuter Jet mistakenly trying to take off on a runway that was too Short crashed into a Field yesterday and burst into flames killing 49 people and Leav ing the Lone survivor ? a co Pilot ? in critical condition Federal investigators said. Foreign affairs in Ottawa said two canadians were among the dead Pas sengers. Further details were not Avail Able immediately. Preliminary flight data from com air 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 a Blue grass Airport National transportation safety Board member Debbie Hersman said. The 1,066-metre-Long strip unlit and barely half the length of the airports main runway is not intended for com Mercial flights. The twin engine Crj?100 would have needed 1,525 metres to fully get off the ground aviation experts said. It want immediately Clear How the plane ended up on the Shorter runway in the predawn darkness. There was a Light rain yesterday 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 slowed through a perimeter Fence and crashed in a Field about a Kilometre from the end of that runway at about 6 07 . Aerial images of the crash site in the rolling Hills of Kentucky a 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 ? a newlywed couple starting their Honey Moon a Florida Man we Are absolutely totally committed to doing everything humanly possible to determine the cause of this Accident ? com air president Don Bornhorst who had caught an Early flight Home to be with his children and a University of Kentucky official among them. They were taking off so i a sure they had a lot of fuel on Board Fayette county Coroner Gary Ginn said. Faa spokeswoman Laura Brown said the Agency had no indication that terrorism was involved in any Way in what was the country a worst Domestic plane crash in five years. Its 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 Czysz. The worst such crash came on oct. 31, 2000, when a los Angeles bound Singa pore airlines jumbo Jet mistakenly went Down a runway at Taiwan a Chiang Kai Shek International Airport that had been closed for repairs. The resulting Colli Sion with construction equipment killed 83 people on Board. Com air president Don Bornhorst said maintenance for the plane that crashed yesterday was up to Date and its three member flight Crew was experienced and had been flying that air plane 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 dam aging things that can happen to an investigation of this magnitude is for speculation or for us to guess at what May be Bombardier aerospace will Send product safety and technical experts to the scene of the crash to assist the National transportation safety Board in its investigation a company spokesman in Mon Treal said yesterday. ? a / up ;