Comair’s operating procedures did not include any written guidance specific to runway identification for takeoff before Flight 5191 crashed and burned in a field off Lexington Blue Grass Airport on August 27, despite a 1989 NTSB recommendation that called for the FAA to ensure that the manuals of all Part 121 operators require runway cross checks, said the Board in a new safety recommendation to the FAA last month. Comair also did not provide guidance to its pilots about conducting takeoffs at night on runways without edge or centerline lights, according to the NTSB.
The recommendation, sent to the FAA on December 12, advises the agency to mandate heading cross checks and explicit runway lighting requirements for nighttime takeoffs. Citing “several” cases in which flight crews used the wrong departure runway, the NTSB registered its concern that neither a 2003 Advisory Circular nor a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) issued by the FAA on September 1 that offer techniques and procedures for consideration mandates compliance.
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