Accidents
Crew confusion contributed to Kentucky takeoff accident
When NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker asked two of his Safety Board compatriots–both erstwhile airline pilots–whether they ever took off into “a black hole,” bo

When NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker asked two of his Safety Board compatriots–both erstwhile airline pilots–whether they ever took off into “a black hole,” both answered in the negative.

The NTSB knows that Comair Flight 5191 crashed on takeoff from the Lexington (Ky.) Blue Grass Airport because the runway was too short; what it has not determined is why two high-time airline pilots stopped briefly at the hold-short line for 3,501-foot-long Runway 26 and then turned onto it instead of crossing and continuing on to their assigned Runway 22.