At last report Comair first officer James Polehinke still didn’t recall his abrupt and tragic entry into the ranks of this year’s newsmakers. Unfortunately for the 44-year-old resident of Margate, Fla., his lack of memory hasn’t made the knowledge that 49 other people died in the crumpled and charred hulk of the Bombardier CRJ100 he piloted any less painful. “Why did God do this to me?” Polehinke reportedly asked upon regaining consciousness at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center, days after Comair Flight 5191 ran off the end of the wrong runway at Lexington Blue Grass Airport, clipped the airport’s perimeter fence and severed treetops before crashing and burning in a field.
Polehinke, the only survivor of the August 27 crash, has lost a leg to amputation, undergone several surgeries to repair broken bones and begun down the road to physical recovery at a Lexington rehabilitation center. Hopefully for Polehinke, a conclusive finding by the NTSB will eventually lend enough clarity to help salve his emotional wounds.
