on 9/28/06 8:46 PM, LT Don at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I'm not anywhere near a NTSB investigator but here is my one word > explanation of what happened (ok, three word) -- routine and complacency.
That's a pretty broad statement that applies to many if not almost all traffic accidents, boating accidents, the sinking of the Titanic, etc. A friend sent me a link to one of the major US newspapers a day or two ago (for the life of me I cannot remember which one, and it was not sent to this 'puter), with a story on some of the background that the NTSB report does not get into: 1. There should have been two controllers on duty. The FAA broke its own rules having only one at that airport. He was technically the ground controller, but was also handling air control at the time of the crash. 2. The recent construction to the taxiways had altered the route... and it was not clearly marked, so in fact following the 'old' taxi route put them on the wrong runway. 3. No advisory on the taxiway change had been posted for the pilots. Though both pilots had flown previously out of that airport, neither had been there for at least six months prior (one I think more than one year). 4. By some odd twist, the pilots boarded and almost finished their preflight on the wrong aircraft (same equipment, different gate). They had to be alerted by a ground crew member to pack up and switch planes. I think a reasonable person might assume this could have agitated them, or scattered their attention a little. The story observed that even after changing planes, they still managed to depart on time. Not sure if there is a nugget buried in there somewhere. Sorry if I am retreading old info, I had not followed this story anywhere very closely until I read that article. Observation: my old man was a flying instructor in WWII... he always contended that the best pilots were those who scared themselves completely witless at some point during training, as in a god protects fools and children sort of incident. He said those guys gained focus and went on to live longer than many others. So maybe neither of these guys had ever got themselves on the wrong runway early on. Who knows. God rest the souls, anyway. Mac
