chperplt
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From the Lexington Newspaper
The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair Flight 5191 crashed had only two hours of sleep before starting work on the overnight shift, a federal investigator said Wednesday.
National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said the controller had only nine hours off between work shifts Saturday. That was just enough to meet federal rules, which require a minimum of eight hours off between shifts, Hersman said.
The controller, whose name has not been released publicly, worked from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. He came back to work at 11:30 p.m. on the same day to begin an eight-hour overnight shift.
The commuter jet crashed on Sunday morning, in the final hours of the controller’s shift, while trying to take off from Blue Grass Airport.
Federal officials have been looking for explanations why Flight 5191 mistakenly tried to take off from a runway that was too short, crashing in a nearby field and killing 49 of 50 people on board.
The Federal Aviation Administration has already acknowledged violating its own policies when it assigned only one controller to the Lexington tower. FAA guidelines called for two controllers to be working at all times in Lexington
The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair Flight 5191 crashed had only two hours of sleep before starting work on the overnight shift, a federal investigator said Wednesday.
National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said the controller had only nine hours off between work shifts Saturday. That was just enough to meet federal rules, which require a minimum of eight hours off between shifts, Hersman said.
The controller, whose name has not been released publicly, worked from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. He came back to work at 11:30 p.m. on the same day to begin an eight-hour overnight shift.
The commuter jet crashed on Sunday morning, in the final hours of the controller’s shift, while trying to take off from Blue Grass Airport.
Federal officials have been looking for explanations why Flight 5191 mistakenly tried to take off from a runway that was too short, crashing in a nearby field and killing 49 of 50 people on board.
The Federal Aviation Administration has already acknowledged violating its own policies when it assigned only one controller to the Lexington tower. FAA guidelines called for two controllers to be working at all times in Lexington
