Preliminary flight data from Comair Flight 5191's black box recorders and the damage at the scene indicate the plane, a CRJ-100 regional jet, took off from the shortest runway at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport, National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said.

The 1,050-meter-long strip, with less lighting and barely half the length of the airport's main runway, is intended for only daylight takeoffs and not for commercial flights. The twin-engine CRJ-100 would have needed 1,500 meters to fully get off the ground, aviation experts said.

When rescuers reached it, the plane was largely intact but in flames. A police officer burned his arms dragging the only survivor from the cracked cockpit.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 2, 2006
(C) All rights reserved