USA: Sole survivor of Kentucky plane crash remains critically ill, says doctor
- 00:00:20
- ITN Source
USA: Sole survivor of Kentucky plane crash remains critically ill, says doctor
A Comair regional jet that crashed and burned after a failed takeoff in Kentucky on Sunday (August 27), killing 49 of 50 people aboard, used the shorter of the airport's two runways, investigators said. Debbie Hersman, the chief National Transportation Safety Board investigator in this case, said at a news conference near the scene there were marks at the end of Runway 26 at Blue Grass Airport apparently made by the plane. That runway is not meant for commercial traffic. Flight 5191, a Canadair CRJ-100 was being operated as a feeder for Delta Air Lines, was heading for Atlanta when the predawn crash occurred. The co-pilot is the lone survivor. Surgeon Andrew Bernard at the University of Kentucky hospital said the plane's first officer, James Polehinke, was "critically ill". "He's been moved through the emergency department and operating room and been admitted to the intensive care unit," he said. What remains unclear, investigators said, is whether the crew was cleared for takeoff on the airport's longer runway, Runway 22. An aviation source said the plane was supposed to depart from that runway.
ITN Source | August 28, 2006
