I wasn’t going to blog about this at first, but then I thought travel isn’t always happy-go-lucky. Sometimes you get a flat, stuck in a ditch, held hostage, placed in the center of two hostile warring countries or your flight plunges from the atmosphere like a torpedo to your untimely death. Sure these aren’t the scenarios any of us want to think about before launching into the big bold world, but it’s reality. It happens. Your own only hope can be living to tell it or better – that it just doesn’t happen to you.
Reading the details on Comair Flight 5191, which crashed yesterday morning about half a mile from the end of the runaway at the Lexington airport feels so bone-chilling. Apparently the plane ventured down a runaway that was far too short for take-off, the plane was barely airborne, then came crashing down. Other details which have more than a few eye-brows raised, include the condition of the runway: poor lighting and severely cracked concrete. Were these not HUGE red flags? Investigators will be taking a look at what went on in the tower, how many controllers were on duty and if they saw the plane head down the wrong runway.
Of the 50 passengers onboard only one survived and is in critical condition. There were 47 passengers and 3 crew members. One couple had just gotten married the following night in a fairy-tale type ceremony with horse-drawn carriages and 300 friends in attendance. Another passenger, a member for Habitat for Humanity, Pat Smith, was on his way down to Gulfport, MS to help rebuild homes. So very tragic and sad.