Accident Overview
On a night with visual meteorological conditions, a commercial aircraft operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 crashed during takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky. The flight was en route to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a subsequent post-crash fire.
Sequence of Events
The flight crew received instructions to take off from runway 22. However, during the takeoff roll, the crew inadvertently lined up the aircraft on runway 26 instead. The aircraft ran off the end of the runway and struck the airport perimeter fence, trees, and terrain. The captain, flight attendant, and 47 passengers were killed; the first officer sustained serious injuries.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined the probable cause to be the flight crew members' failure to use available cues and aids to identify the airplane's location on the airport surface during taxi and their failure to cross-check and verify that the airplane was on the correct runway before takeoff. Contributing to the accident were the flight crew's nonpertinent conversation during taxi, which resulted in a loss of positional awareness, and the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to require that all runway crossings be authorized only by specific air traffic control clearances.