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CNN Sunday Morning
Commuter Plane Crashes In Kentucky, Reportedly 49 Deaths; Kidnapped FOX Journalists Freed in Gaza; Hurricane Ernesto
Aired August 27, 2006 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: ... commuter plane, bound for Atlanta, crashed during takeoff.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: In Gaza Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, the FOX News reporter and photographer held hostage for 13 days are now free men. Take a look at this video. They were released by their captors less than five hours ago. We are live at the Gaza border for that story.
HARRIS: And Tropical Storm Ernesto is now Hurricane Ernesto, packing winds of 75 miles per hour, and it is expected to intensify. Bonnie Schneider is tracking the storm in our Hurricane Headquarters and we'll have a complete and detailed update in just a couple of moments.
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. It is Sunday, August 27th. A lot going, obviously, you are joining us here at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Let's get straight to our top story this morning.
NGUYEN: That top story being the breaking news this morning of a commuter plane crashing in Lexington, Kentucky. The FAA says there were multiple deaths. At least 50 people were onboard. Delta Flight 5191, operated by Delta's commuter carrier, Comair, was bound for Atlanta, when it went down in the woods shortly after takeoff.
Here's some file video of the plane that we are talking about. This crash happened after 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Former airline captain, Jon Regas, joins me now on the phone to talk about what we know, so far, in this accident.
So, Jon, looking at the information that you've been seeing as you've been watching all of the reports on this, what does it tell you so far?
JON REGAS, VETERAN PILOT (via phone): I agree with Miles O'Brien, so far some of the possibilities, improper loading, engine failure, improperly set flap settings. But I would like to add that there have been a number of incidents and that that National Transportation Safety Board urgently regent request that the FAA do something about certain problems with the electrical system of this type of aircraft, which has or can potentially cause a certain kind of fire, including disrupting all of the electronic flight instruments that the pilots depend on. NGUYEN: When did that warning come out?
REGAS: It's pretty recent. I don't have the exact date, but the last couple of months, they came out. And there had been a number of incidents starting in 2005 of fires and there's something called an electrical contactor, which might also be called a relay. And there's a possibility a fire, due to this particular situation, and it's very close to an oxygen line, which would further make difficulties with the fire.
I'm not saying that's what happened or anything like it. The first inclination of probably every pilot out there was some sort of engine failure. I've looked at the weather and there had been rain a few minutes before, but as Miles was saying the weather was relatively benign.
And I'm still waiting for just a little bit more information, but I would throw into the equation here any fatigue. I'd like to know how many legs the pilots flew the day before, how much rest they had, certain questions about that. And, again, loading and setting the --
NGUYEN: There are a lot of questions. What we do know now is there were about 50 people onboard this plane. It was headed from Lexington, Kentucky, to Atlanta, Georgia, this morning. And it crashed upon takeoff in a wooded area about a mile from the airport.
Jon, I'm going ask you just to stand by on the phone, if you will. We have some more breaking news to report.
HARRIS: We are joined now by Laura Brown. She is an FAA spokesperson.
Laura, thanks for your time this morning. All right. Laura Brown is on the phone with us. She is an FAA spokes -- we just lost her? Did we just lose her? OK.
NGUYEN: This is obviously a fluid situation. Let's bring back Jon Regas. He's a former pilot joining us from Reno, Nevada this morning, to talk about this crash that occurred this morning in Lexington, Kentucky, at the Bluegrass Airport.
Jon, what we do know, I had just mentioned that this plane crashed upon takeoff and it landed in a wooded area about a mile from the airport. That's not very far at all especially when you're talking about a takeoff. Does that give you any indication as to what happened? It happened so quickly it doesn't sound like there was any time to radio for help and make time for a distress call.
REGAS I'm sure there wasn't enough time to do any of that. Again, my initial speculation is some sort of engine failure. And it is possible that both engines failed at the same time. It's very, very unlikely, but that does come to mind.
Also if the airplane, if for some reason the flight instruments were given erroneous reading of air speed on takeoff and the pilots attempted to lift the aircraft prior to reaching a safe flying speed they might have stalled -- aerodynamically stalled, that is -- shortly after takeoff. That is one thing that does concern me.
Also, improper loading has caused planes to crash in the past and it is a great concern among pilots that if the airplane is out of, what we call, center the gravity then the airplane may not be controllable.
HARRIS: John, I can ask you a quick question. Tony Harris here, with Betty. I've got to ask you, recently we've had all of these new guidelines for air travel now, what you can and not take on in your carry-on and a lot of folks like me, even recently have decided to just pack everything into a bag and just check the bag.
REGAS: Yeah.
HARRIS: So I'm wondering is there a possibility when we talk about improper loading that that could be impacted by more and more people deciding to not take anything in their carry-on and just checking it?
REGAS: It certainly comes to mind. And I would ask additional questions like were any flights from this airport on this airline cancelled yesterday and additional baggage had to be put aboard this plane, to get to the people who somehow missed another flight. And was it perhaps overloaded in that regard? It's certainly a question. Certainly, we don't know right now, but I've seen in my career that they'll put extra bags onboard an airplane if they cancelled the flight before.
HARRIS: And will they do that and not tell the pilots? Don't you get -- I don't know for sure here, but I'm guessing -- but don't you get information as to how heavy your load is? Do you, as a pilot?
We lost Jon, OK. Laura Brown is with us now, an FAA spokesperson.
Laura, thanks for your time this horning.
LAURA BROWN, FAA, SPOKESPERSON: Hello?
HARRIS: Oh, great. Laura, good to talk to you.
Is there anything that you can add to the story that we're telling this morning, out of Lexington, Kentucky, multiple fatalities, among the folks who were on this plane, this 50-seater Delta commuter jet.
BROWN: All we really know right now is that the plane crashed shortly after takeoff, a little after 6:00 this morning. And we don't have any information about what the cause of the accident was yet, and that would be up to the NTSB. The NTSB is en route right now, and they should be getting there this morning.
HARRIS: Give me a sense of your area -- your purview, what kind of information you'll be getting and what kind of questions you will be asking, I will assume, of the NTSB? BROWN: Well, I think, you know, in any accident investigation they interview the people in the tower. They listen to the air traffic tapes. They interview people on the ground and then they look at the wreckage and try to determine whatever they can from the -- from that, and, you know, they would certainly look at the airport and try to figure out what happened.
NGUYEN: Hi, Laura, this is Betty Nguyen with Tony Harris here. I have a question for you because the little information that we have says there are multiple fatalities. No information as to whether there are any survivors. What do you know about the fatalities, and if there are indeed any survivors?
BROWN: Well, the preliminary information that was there were 50 people on the plane, 47 passengers and three crew members. The preliminary reports from the first responders was that there were 50 fatalities.
NGUYEN: 50.
BROWN: That's really all of the information that we have right now.
NGUYEN: So, again, I want to be very clear, because we lost the end of that transmission right there. You said as far as you know there are 50 fatalities.
BROWN: That was the report, yes.
HARRIS: And, Laura, are you getting any indication of weather conditions? Can you help us with that side of the story if weather played a factor? Are you hearing from your folks at the airport that weather was a factor?
BROWN: No. It was dark at the time of the accident, but it was clear, is my understanding. Visibility was good, but it was dark.
HARRIS: OK. Laura, anything else you can tell us?
BROWN: That's about it.
HARRIS: OK. All right. Laura Brown, FAA spokesperson on the line with us. Laura, thank you.
Let's check in again with Bonnie Schneider. Bonnie, you can tell us sort of what the situation was on the ground at the time of this flight.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the Bluegrass Airport reports their weather conditions hour by hour, and you can actually go check that at the National Weather Service website. And what they've been reporting, they started off early in the morning before the sun came up, and said it w was partly cloudy.
As the sun came up we started to get more clouds and overcast conditions. So it wasn't completely, completely clear later in the morning, but it started off better and worsened a bit. As far as rain goes, was there only a trace of rain over the past six hours and that does include the time of the crash.
Most of the thunderstorms we've been watching have been south of the airport. The airport just west of Lexington right there on the map. And you could see the storms are still even right now in the vicinity, but they're not producing frequent lightning strikes. We haven't seen that happen with the storms at present.
NGUYEN: Let me ask you this, Bonnie, as the NTSB gets there, and as the investigation continues, and as we heard there are 50 fatalities a coding to the FAA. All of the people onboard were killed in this accident. As they collect those bodies. What is the weather like there, are they being hampered by the weather? Will this investigation be hampered by the weather?
SCHNEIDER: That's a good question. Right now the weather is not bad. We're getting reports of spotty showers popping up and really light winds. So we're not going to see strong, gusty winds or heavy downpours. There is still the chance, about 50 percent, for scattered thunderstorms in the Lexington forecast for this afternoon. It's been stormy there over the past couple of days and we're likely to see that occur, but at present things don't look too bad as far as weather.
NGUYEN: OK, Bonnie Schneider, in the Weather Center for us. Thank you for that.
HARRIS: We'll try to get as much information as we can on this story, this breaking news out of Lexington, Kentucky, of a commuter plane crashed there, at the Bluegrass Airport. Bob Francis is on the line with us.
And Bob, my understanding is that you're a former chairman of the NTSB. Is that correct?
BOB FRANCIS, FMR. VICE CHAIRMAN, NTSB: Former vice chairman.
HARRIS: Vice chairman, Thank you. Bob, thanks for your time this morning.
When you start to -- the first thing you do is you said what Miles O'Brien referred to as a go team to the location. Is that correct?
FRANCIS: That's correct. That's one of the board members and that board member is designated by -- you're on for a week, so if it's your week, and there's an accident, you go.
HARRIS: How many members of this go team?
FRANCIS: I would guess this is obviously a serious accident, I would guess a dozen, maybe.
HARRIS: About a dozen. What are their responsibilities? They hit the ground and walk us through the initial phases of this investigation.
FRANCIS: Well, the person who manages the investigation is the investigator in charge. And that will be a fairly senior NTSB investigator. And then so when they get there one of the first things, obviously, they'll want to do is go to the site of the accident and sort of see what they're dealing with.
Then having done that, they will decide based on what they've seen how they're going to organize and what you end up is, you have different groups of people that work on this. And you'll have an air traffic group, and an operational group, and structures group, and maybe an engines group or meteorology group, or whatever it is, depending on what you think the issues may be.
And this evening there will be an organizational meeting, again, chaired by the investigator in charge, and these groups will be designated. A decision will be made and then parties to the investigation, which include the FAA, it will be Comair, if there's a Comair pilot -- if they're a of ALPHA (ph), I can't remember whether they are -- the airline pilots, they would be a member, the engine manufacturer, the aircraft -- is this a Canada Air?
HARRIS: Yes. It sure is. It sure is.
FRANCIS: With 50, it sounded like it. So Bombardier from Canada would be a party, probably GE is the manufacturer of the engine. They would be a party.
HARRIS: Hey, Bob, any problems recently that you're aware of with this kind of aircraft, with the many people who are a part of manufacturing this aircraft?
FRANCIS: No. You know, it's an aircraft that's had a very good safety record. There was an accident, I don't know, five or six years ago maybe, but that was not -- their activities were somewhat -- their activities were somewhat questionable in that one, as I recall.
HARRIS: I see. So if this is an aircraft with a good safety record are you going try to recover the flight data recorders as soon as possible?
FRANCIS: Absolutely. The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder would be -- they are always the priority item that you want to -- after making sure that you've taken care of survivors.
HARRIS: Yes.
FRANCIS: And then the NTSB, their first interest is in getting the recorders.
HARRIS: Bob, remind us again because it's been a while since we've had this conversation about the flight data recorders. Give us a sense again of what kind of information is going to be on those recorders.
On the cockpit voice recorder will be -- it's a microphone in the cockpit and which is also plugged into the pilot's communications. They will be able to hear on the cockpit voice recorder, assuming it survives, and it usually does.
NGUYEN: Bob, this is Betty Nguyen with Tony Harris. As you talk about the cockpit voice recorder. This plane crashed at 6:19 Eastern Time, this morning in a wooded area about a mile west of the airport. Do you think that gives the pilot, the crew, enough time to say anything on that voice recorder?
FRANCIS: Apparently, from the little that I've heard, was there no communication with the tower. But -- so that's probably not going to be helpful from that point of view. What you're really interested in, is what's the communication within the cockpit. What are the pilots saying to one another? And what might you hear otherwise that would be helpful to you.
HARRIS: Great.
FRANCIS: Now the flight data recorder.
HARRIS: Yes.
FRANCIS: Records all, basically, a huge number of parameters. Engine parameters, where's your rudder, where's the -- where's the -- alorons (ph) -- whatever it is, you get a lot of data on the airplane.
HARRIS: So, bob, I get the sense from you -- and we've got to run -- but I get the sense from you that we will in all likelihood learn what brought this plane down.
FRANCIS: I would be very surprised if we would not.
HARRIS: OK, Bob Francis, former vice chairman of the NTSB.
Bob, thanks for your time this morning.
NGUYEN: In the meantime we do want to get more information on the ground there in Lexington, Kentucky, about exactly what happened. To do that, let's turn to the local coverage. This is affiliate WTVQ. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN AFFILIATE FEED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that it's raining. Brad James is over in the storm team 36 center, right now. I know he also has some graphics we can look at. What exactly was it like around 6 o'clock this morning out by the airport?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are looking at archive image of Live Doppler radar taken several hours ago, about 45 minutes after the plane crashed on Bluegrass Airport. You'll notice looking at the radar that there were scattered showers and thunderstorms, which were reported in the area around that time, across Lexington, extending across the western part of the county, from there to southern Willford County over towards Harrisburg. These aren't particularly strong storms. There is no lightening indicated with this particular line, but there were showers, fog and haze in and around the Bluegrass Airport area right around 6:00 this morning. And some of those showers produced a brief period of rainfall in that area.
Again, we're looking at a picture that was taken just after 7 o'clock this morning showing shower activity in the area. And this is what the airport region looks like right there. At that time those showers were in the region, and there was no lightning indicated with them. So although we can't proceed to, guess what the FAA is going say, it's not very likely that any of those showers had anything to do with the crash this morning.
We are reporting that there were showers in and around the Bluegrass Airport along the time the plane took off and crashed. Those showers were not very strong, not very heavy, and it's not likely they caused serious problems for the pilots, or the folks in the airport.
This is what the radar looks like right now. The line of showers and thunderstorms has moved completely out of the area, extending in a line south of Moorhead, all the way down toward Richmond, Kentucky, from there down toward Bowling Green, but again, a little bit of lightning indicated in the line at this time. We don't have any indication that there was lightning associated with any of these showers or small thunderstorms in that area at the time of the plane take off and crash this morning -- Don.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Brad James giving us an overview of what the weather was like. Not too bad, no lightning. This plane taking off shortly after 6:00, crashing after 6:07, one mile west of the airport here, in Lexington, the Bluegrass Airport.
A flight originating from here, Delta airlines Comair flight headed toward Atlanta to Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, should have been a simple hour and 20 minute flight. Instead that plane went down immediately after takeoff and as we've been told, 49 of the 50 people onboard have died.
Action 36's Michele Rausch is standing by, one of the two reporters on the scene. We want to go to her now with the information that she has -- Michelle.
MICHELE RAUSCH, WTVQ REPORER: This is happening right now. Let's take a look. They're opening up one lane of traffic. They're using the outbound lane of Versailles road. They've divided the two outbound lanes, so they're letting traffic go into Lexington in one of those lanes and then letting people come out of Lexington in the other lane.
They just opened that up late literally, 30 seconds ago, led by a Lexington police officer. So that is something that is happening right now, that they are opening the flow of traffic. It's going to be one lane each way.
Something that just happened, too. About five minutes ago I saw them bring up, again, on this service road. Well, first, as we pan over, as you can see, right there hopefully the Red Cross has just now arrived. So the Red Cross is heading out to the crash scene.
About five minutes ago, before that, I saw them bringing in on a flat bed truck, it was like a golf cart that enclosed. And I'm told that is used when police investigators need to ride around in a rough terrain area. So that is something that they have just brought in as sort of an enclosed golf cart, which is going give them greater mobility than what they have had throughout the morning. We've seen some Lexington police officers with their dogs walking in this hilly, wooded area, that's on the edge of the property -- Don?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Michele Rausch reporting to us live near the scene where this is all happening.
Just to get everyone up to speed, again, at 6:00 this morning a Delta Comair flight left the Lexington Bluegrass Airport. At 6:07, according to the FAA, it went down one mile west in the rugged terrain there by the airport.
We have been told that there is one survivor, an unidentified man who has been taken down to UK Hospital in critical condition, at this particular time. We now also understand that Comair, that operated this flight, is going to have a news conference at 10:00 a.m. to get information that that company has for us as well. We'll make sure that we cover that and pass on that information.
In the meantime, we want to let people know a couple of things for anyone who might have known someone on that flight, is now wanting information as well. Chaplains from the Lexington Police Department are at the airport to talk to airport. Delta has set up an 800 number for you to get information. It is 800-801-0088, 800-801-0088.
We can tell you, according to Bluegrass Airport officials, the runway is open once again, for flights. We've been looking at Delta's website. It is still showing that some of the flights like the 11:55 flight out of there still cancelled. So if you plan on flying you might want to make sure you check no matter who the carrier is this morning.
Because the airport is saying that the runway's open and there will be backups and delays, and maybe cancellations caused by all of this. Just letting everyone know, once again, that if they're joining us now at 9:22 in Lexington, that three hours and 20 minutes ago a plane took off from the Lexington airport headed to Atlanta. That plane was full. It had 50 people onboard, with 47 passengers and three crew members.
That plane crashed one mile west of the airport. We have witnesses that heard it, witnesses that saw smoke and a flash of light and we have one survivor, that we know, just one survivor of those 50 people that was now at the airport.
I want to go back to Action 36's Michele Rausch at the scene down there and gathering information since shortly after this crash, shortly after 6 o'clock. She's been down there. We'll go to her one more time live and get the information that she has, Michele. RAUSCH: As you said, this happened about seven, eight minutes after 6:00 this morning. There was a strong show of response from Lexington police, Lexington fire. We'll go ahead and look over here. They were filling all four lanes of Versailles Road with the emergency response.
As you can tell, that has calmed down considerably, not many emergency responders on Versailles Road now. They are up over this hill. There's been a steady flow of emergency responders going up this gravel road all morning long.
I want you to listen to a couple of witnesses that we talked to first thing this morning. One who heard this crash, and one who saw signs of the crash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just heard -- the windows shook in the house. I live on top of the hill, right up top of Rice (ph) Road here. And the windows shook and I really thought it was a big clap of thunder, I didn't think much about it, until I heard the sirens and got called and came out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went out the backdoor and looked and there was no one there, and I looked around and I saw over the hillside I saw the flash of light, and then the explosion, and then just a big plume of smoke come up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAUSCH: And following that was when all of the emergency responders came out here. We were out here 15, 20 minutes after this happened. And a big show of force and there were ambulances coming out here, but that didn't last long. The traffic from ambulances did cease, and then that's when we saw the Fayette County coroner's van come out here. So early indication, shortly after this happened, that this was as bad as we have now confirmed that it is.
The Red Cross just arrived about five, 10 minutes ago. Lexington Police have been out in this wooded area throughout the morning with their dogs, sniffing around. About five 10 minutes ago, also brought out a golf cart type vehicle that's enclosed and allows them more mobility in these areas instead of just walking around with their dogs.
Another new development in the last five minutes is they've opened up one lane of traffic each way on Versailles road. So the outbound lane is now two lanes of traffic coming in and out of town.
As you can see now it's being led by Lexington Police. They're kind of taking it in shifts. So they'll lead one lane in as another goes outside. So you can get through in and out of town, but it is going to be a little bit slow going out here and again, the response now is a lot more calm. Sadly, we hear only one survivor and now the attention is turning to the investigation. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It certainly is a sad Sunday morning because of all this. Michele, thank you very much. We'll be going back to Michele, no doubt in a few minutes. We also want to let you know.
(END AFFILIATE FEED)
NGUYEN: You've been watching our local affiliate there in Lexington, Kentucky, WTVQ. One thing of note, to point out, we spoke with the FAA earlier and their spokesperson told us that 50 people, all of those onboard were killed in this plane. We have since learned from that affiliate, and the Associated Press, that 49 of the 50 people onboard have died.
There is one survivor. That survivor is in critical condition at the University of Kentucky Hospital. We are still waiting on much more information surrounding exactly what caused this crash.
HARRIS: Think we'll get the best information at 10:00 a.m. That's the time we're expected to hear from Comair. We'll be holding a press conference at the time. Comair, as you know is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. This flight leaving Lexington Bluegrass Airport to Atlanta, and we are scrambling folks to get to Atlanta's Hartfield Jackson International Airport. Obviously people waiting there for the arrival of this flight, about an hour or so ago.
So a number of angles that we're working on the story, but it seems to me the best information will come in about a half hour from Comair.
We'll take a break, and come back with more of our continuing coverage of this -- this tragedy -- on this SUNDAY MORNING. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And if you are just waking up this morning there are three breaking news stories that CNN is following this hour. In Kentucky, a Comair commuter plane bound for Atlanta crashed during takeoff.
NGUYEN: And in Gaza, Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, the FOX News reporter and photographer held hostage for 13 days, they are now free men. They were released by their captors less than five hours ago. We're going to get you live reports from the Gaza border on that story.
HARRIS: And Tropical Storm Ernesto is now Hurricane Ernesto packing wins of 75-miles-per-hour and it is expected to intensify. Bonnie Schneider is tracking the storm in our Hurricane Headquarters and she will have details for us in a moment.
NGUYEN: In the meantime, though, we do want to welcome you back. Good morning, everybody, from the CNN center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen.
HARRIS: I'm good morning everyone, I'm Tony Harris. Let's get right to our top story and we're talking about this crash this morning of a Comair commuter flight that went down in Lexington's Blue Grass Airport. The FAA says there were multiple deaths. At least 50 people were onboard. The latest information we have places 49 people dead, one survivor.
Delta Flight 5191 operated by Delta's commuter carrier, Comair, was bound for Atlanta when it went down in Woods about a mile west of the airport shortly after takeoff. It happened just after 6:00 a.m., about 6:07 a.m. Eastern Time.
NGUYEN: We've been watching this morning, a lot of questions still to be answered. As we told you, 50 people onboard the plane, 47 passengers and three crew members. We do know, according to the local affiliates there, that one passenger did survive that crash. That person is in critical condition at the University of Kentucky Hospital. In the meantime the NTSB, the FAA are going to be at the site trying to piece together exactly what happened, but we have learned from the former NTSB vice chairman and also from the FAA that there is very little communication actually at one point we understand there was no communication between the plane and the tower and looking to find out if that recorder was able to capture anything that may give an indication of exactly what happened onboard that plane.
HARRIS: And of course, whenever there is a plane accident of this type, a plane crash, what we first want to assess is whether or not weather played a role in the crash.
And we understand from our local affiliate, there, that we'll be dipping into and to listen to their coverage in just a moment, WTVQ there in Lexington -- we understand there were showers in the vicinity, fog also, and haze in the area, but we understand no lightning.
NGUYEN: Let's get back to that one survivor, if we could. Again 50 people onboard that plane, 47 passangers, three crew members and we do understand that there has been one person who survive this plane crash. That person is in critical condition at the University of Kentucky Hospital. We have Gail Hairston on the phone from the hospital to talk us to about this survivor.
Gail, what can you tell us?
GAIL HAIRSTON, UNIV. OF KENTUCKY COMMUNICATIONS MGR: We have one survivor from the Delta Flight 5191. He is in critical condition and being treated at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center.
NGUYEN: You say critical condition, what kind of injuries are you talking about.
HAIRSTON: That's the only information I have at this time.
NGUYEN: And do you know much about this person, this survivor?
HAIRSTON: No, ma'am, we don't have any information about the survivor at this time. NGUYEN: And you know of no other survivors from this crash? None have been brought into the hospital?
HAIRSTON: That's correct.
HARRIS: Appeared to be a passenger or a member of the flight crew?
HAIRSTON: We don't know at this time.
HARRIS: OK. All right.
NGUYEN: That's Gail Harrison from the University of Kentucky Hospital again confirming what we have been telling you that one person did indeed survive, but this person and we learned from Gail that this person say he. We don't have a name, if he was a passenger or a crew member, but he has survived and he is in critical condition, the extent of his injuries, well we don't know that as well.
HARRIS: Let's take you to some of the coverage now from our local affiliate there in Lexington, Kentucky. You're going to watching the coverage from WTVQ.
DON HUDSON, WTVQ NEWS ANCHOR: In that general direction. And now as we know what happened, what was going on, we're trying to piece together why. Now the NTSB is headed out here to Lexington, they'll be investigating this and then we'll eventually learn exactly what happened. Did the plane take off and turn around, did the plane have some type of trouble like that, or did it just take off and went right into the rugged terrain?
We also want to know exactly what the weather was like at that particular time. Maybe that played a role out there. Meteorologist John James is now here and he's going to talk a little bit about what was going at 6:00 in that area of Lexington -- John.
JOHN JAMES, WTVQ METEOROLOGIST: Well thanks Don, we had some scattered showers moving through, no thunder, no lightning with this. We've definitely done analysis with the Viper Radar and it just looks like scattered showers at 6:00. This clip only goes back two hours, but we've another source and we can actually take graphic cells, we can show you what was going at roughly 6:00. A few scattered showers around on our graphics package there and you can see what it was like.
There was no lightning with any of these and just some scattered showers. So, I'm sure the pavement on the runway was wet, but whether that was a factor or not, we just don't know.
As we go back to the Viper you can see we continue to see the scattered showers move southeast, but a little bit closer look and, yeah, you can see, scattered showers. That's pretty much the same type of activity that was going on roughly three and a half hours ago, but the runways, I'm -- certainly -- I'm sure they were wet, but there was a lot of turbulence in the atmosphere and we didn't have a lot of conditions going on aloft to really, I think, impact any flight conditions. Of course, we're just speculating right here, but you can see the airport right there and we're efforting (SIC) to find out exactly where the crash did occur. But I don't think weather was a real factor in what evidently went so tragically wrong this morning, just scattered showers out there -- Don.
HUDSON: And it's not that I don't think that we're going to try to get the answers right here, maybe we're just playing a game of eliminating some of the things, kind of putting John on the spot there, but we wanted to find out what was going to see maybe that wasn't one of the reasons and people immediately think of things like that, what was the weather like, was there lightening, things like that. And it seems that is not really an issue, but there are people who know much better than John or I and they're on the way to investigate all of this and eventually we will find that out.
We have a news conference at 10:00 in Comair, they're hoping to get together out at the Blue Grass Airport again. We're continuing to gather information out there right now, we also were told they may have a Noon news conference as well out there.
Now once again, this airplane took off right around 6:00 at 6:07 it crashed, 50 people onboard this flight. It was one of those smaller commuter jets, but still 50 people onboard. We understand, basically a full flight, 47 pass evenlers and three crew members. The plane, that looks like this, right here, taking off to Atlanta, that's what happened. We also have word from some witnesses that live out there by the airport and by Kealand (ph), what they heard and what they saw shortly after 6:00 this morning when the plane went down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just heard the windows shook on the house. I live at the top of the hill, right up to of Rice Road, here, and you know, the windows shook and I really thought it was a big clap of thunder, so I didn't think much about it and I heard all the sirens and got us all and came down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came out the backdoor and looked and there was no one there and I just looked around and I saw over the hillside, I saw the flash of light and then the explosion and then just a big plume of smoke come up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUDSON: Yeah, and that was the beginning of what has turned out to be a very sad, a very horrible and tragic Sunday morning here in Lexington. What they were hearing and what they were seeing was a Delta flight, a Comair flight with 50 people onboard crashing into the rugged terrain that you're seeing right there. Some video was shot earlier out there near the airport. We are told this is a private property, a farm out there and as far as anyone on the ground, as far as any structures on the ground, not involved. The plane went down in an area that didn't damage anything on the ground at that farm, right there adjacent to the airport at 6:07.
Also, it's interesting here, is just last weekend -- and not that it has anything to do with it -- but just last weekend the runway out there, the main runway out at the Blue Grass Airport was resurfaced, a massive project that actually closed down all flights from the airport and flights coming in from a day or so out there while they did all that work, so it was freshly repaved out there and as John mentioned whether or not a big issue this morning other than maybe some rain and some damp runways or some wet runways. So, folks will start looking into exactly what caused this.
And the other thing we don't know, that you might immediately be asking, something I asked when I first heard of this -- was a plane turning back around and coming back or did it just go right into that hilly area there and crash? And that is something we don't know at this time.
Tom Kenya is one of our reporters who was out there with the officials from the Blue Grass Airport, one of the questions he asked them and they didn't know or at this time didn't feel like saying or commenting at this particular time.
The plane went down one mile west from the airport, again on a private -- on private property, a farm out there. We want to also pass on some things that people may want to know. If this is coming to you and you're unaware of it and you know someone who might have been on the flight or someone flying this morning, Delta has set up...
HARRIS: Yeah, that's 800-801-0088, that's the information line for Delta. Again, Comair is a subsidiary airline of Delta, so if you are in need of some information, have loved ones or at the airport now here in Atlanta awaiting far flight and are desperately trying to get information, maybe that's a number that you can call and get some information.
NGUYEN: And also, many flights are cancelled due to this crash. They're originating out of Lexington, Kentucky and it's going to be affecting the system, so you may want to call your airline just to see if you are affected in any way. But again, that is the Delta hotline number, take it down, 1-800-801-0088, especially if you have family or friends that were onboard that flight that crashed out of Lexington, Kentucky.
HARRIS: The Comair news conference scheduled for, what, 20 minutes from now, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. In the meantime, Michael Gobb is on the phone with us, he's the director of the Lexington Blue Grass Airport.
Michael, good morning to you.
MICHAEL GOBB, LEXINGTON BLUEGRASS AIRPORT DIRECTOR: Well, yes. Good morning.
HARRIS: Well, I only say good morning, as -- it's been a terrible morning for you and your airport and your flight community. What can you add to this story that we've been reporting this morning of 49 deaths, one survivor in this Comair crash?
GOBB: Well, we've not yet confirmed the 49 fatalities. There are still search operations going at the site. Approximately at 6:00 a.m., we had an airline depart the Blue Grass Airport for Atlanta, and I know you were reporting that information, 50 souls onboard, 46 passengers, three crew and one off-duty crew member flying in the jump seat. Fire was involved. I do know that one individual was transported to the University of Kentucky Hospital.
NGUYEN: You say fire was involved. Are you hinting to a possible explosion, an enging if out...
GOBB: No.
HARRIS: In-flight or once -- after the crash.
GOBB: Yeah, post-impact.
HARRIS: OK.
NGUYEN: OK.
HARRIS: Michael, when did you learn this morning that -- we understand the flight took off at 6:07 a.m. when did you learn there was a crash?
GOBB: Actually, shortly after 6:00, I don't know, I was asleep on Sunday morning, but you know, we have crews here 24 hours a day, they did a great job, in a coordinated effort between the city fire department, police department, the state agency, everything went as we practiced and that's why we practice, unfortunately.
HARRIS: Hey Michael, basic question, but let me ask it this way. You get a call in the morning, you're notified that there's been a crash. You ask, well, what happened? Did you ask that question and what were you told?
GOBB: Yeah, actually the airport director, you know, we have the on-site emergency crew and all of the information I'm typically given, while this doesn't happen that often -- that there was an accident, it was an airline aircraft, the number of souls onboard and that they expect fatalities.
HARRIS: And what do you do at that point, as the director of an airport?
GOBB: Well, then it's getting up, getting ready, getting prepared to handle some of the media issues. In fact, we did our first press conference here just about 30 minutes ago. We'll do another one at Noon. So it's just -- and then it's making sure that, you know, all of our people are being safe and there are a number of folks that keep watching out for our rescue team.
NGUYEN: Michael, I have ago question for you here. Was there any communication between the pilots of this plane and back at the tower as it was obviously in distress and was headed toward crashing into that field?
GOBB: We're not sure what communications took place. The NTSB is enroute, they're expected to the ground shortly. You know, typically, Air Traffic Control embargoes all of that information and will provide it to NTSB when they get here, it really depends how much time the cockpit crew had to communicate, if in fact they did.
HARRIS: Michael, just a thought, this was a crash that took place very shortly after takeoff, and I'm wondering in the list of items that you put into place to start on move on your list of things, do you immediately try to provide some kind of an area for folks who may have dropped off passengers for that flight...
GOBB: Yes.
HARRIS: OK.
GOBB: Sure, any airport emergency plan has a provision to isolate the family members from the general public and, no offense intended, the media so that we can -- we keep them in one place, give them timely accurate information and if in fact a family member was involved that they're given some privacy.
HARRIS: Are you still working with family and friends at the airport at this hour?
GOBB: Yes. Yes, in fact the flight manifest has not yet been turned over to the Red Cross, so those family members are still waiting to find out the status of their families -- their loved ones.
NGUYEN: Well, that being the case, are you also in coordination with the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, because obviously there will be family and friends waiting for these passengers on that board to arrive and many of them may have heard the news and some of them may not have.
GOBB: Certainly, that's a standard protocol for any airline; in this case, Delta Airlines will have individuals, their folks, at every one of the arrival destinations so that they can handle the family questions or concerns.
HARRIS: OK, and Michael, just a personal question. What is this morning like for you, your community, that airport that you run? I would imagine it is going take some time to sort through all the emotions?
GOBB: It sure is. And right now we're just dealing with the initial response. We're, you know, certainly concerned with the health and well-being of all of the rescuers as well as the families, so -- but our efforts right now are to make sure we do everything for the people on the airplane as well of the -- as the family members. I appreciate your interest, but I've got to run.
HARRIS: Michael Gobb is the director of the Lexington Blue Grass Airport. Michael, thank you for your time this morning.
NGUYEN: As we continue to follow this story, we're learning a little bit more and Michael provided some more information as to the fact, yes, there were 50 people onboard that plane, 46 passengers, three members and one off-duty crew member who was in the jump seat on that plane. Now, we have understood throughout the morning, that there were about 49 passengers who were killed in that accident. Michael Gobb, the director of the Blue Grass Airport, says he could not confirm that, but what we do know is there is one survivor who is confirmed to have survived this crash. That person is a man, we don't know much more about him, whether he was a passenger or crew member. But he has been taken to the University of Kentucky Hospital where he is in critical condition. So, that's the latest on the fatalities and injuries that we know of.
HARRIS: And we're starting to hear more from the witnesses to this crash. Let's take you back to our affiliate there in Lexington, Kentucky, WTVQ.
HUDSON: ...at this particular time, he said that it looked to him, right now, that the deaths were caused by either the impact or most likely a fire that all the passengers were still onboard that plane when he got to the scene and yet 49 or 50 of those passengers were dead, he also mentioned that the one survivor has been taken down to U.K. hospital. We understand from U.K. hospital that passenger is in critical condition, so again, just one survivor.
To back up a little bit here, we want to let you know that at 6:00 that flight was scheduled to leave from the Blue Grass Airport headed to Atlanta, but 6:07 was when it went down, one mile west of the airport. Fifty people onboard, 47 passengers, and three crew members and all except for one man, an unidentified man, died in the crash and he is down at the U.K. Hospital.
Now, anyone who needs to call Delta to get more information about this, might have known someone or worried that someone was on a flight, Delta has set up an 800 number: 1-800-801-0088, 800-801-0088. In addition to that, the Lexington Police Department, because of the immensity of this tragedy, has also had some chaplains, we are told, sent over to the airports, some Lexington Police Department chaplains are over there to help people deal with this as well. A very sad and tragic part to all of all this is another fact...
NGUYEN: And we're going to break from this coverage. We'll continue to monitor, but we're also monitoring some of the interviews that are being done on the ground near this crash site. The Fayette County Coroner spoke just moments ago, his name is Gary Ginn. Let's take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY GINN, FAYETTE COUNTY CORONER: Several hundreds of feet and it was a fiery incident, the fire traveled with the plane and then I will say that I think that one thing that'll be very beneficial in -- with me will be as far as identifying the individuals that the fire department from the airport got there very fast, they put the flames out very fast and because of that, were able to keep a lot of the plane intact.
QUESTION: So you see a lot of (INAUDIBLE) -- about how -- is this one of the worst you've seen? GINN: This is my largest fatality, I believe, it's going to be the largest that I've worked. We're not sure about numbers, you know, we do know that one individual was transported to the U.K. college of -- U.K. Chandler Medical Center, but it's not a good scene, whatsoever.
QUESTION: There's a passenger list?
GINN: I'm sorry?
QUESTION: A passenger list?
GINN: Sure, I'm -- I don't have access to that right now, but I'm sure that there is a passenger list at the airport.
QUESTION: Even though that you have seen death in your career, I mean, is it tough to be there at the time when it's so fresh with the families, there on the scene, as well, still figuring out what happened?
GINN: Of course we're not -- the families aren't able to be at the scene, we're -- that's just not possible for that to happen. I haven't talked with any of the families yet, there's a lot of families, I understand, that's already gone to the airport. It's -- it's never good when you have something like this that happens and where there are large numbers of people that have died but, you know, we'll do the best that we possibly can. We're in the process of setting up a more facilities over at Frankfurt and over to help expedite the autopsies of these individuals so we can get the loved ones back to their families and get the individuals identified.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And that was Gary Ginn with the Fayette County Coroner's Office. Again, just reporting the fact that this was a fiery crash and that there were many fatalities, we're looking at possibly 49. That's what was confirmed to us a little bit earlier. One person did survive, but again, this is a very fluid situation and hopefully there are more survivors, but at this point that is what we know those injured and those killed in this crash.
HARRIS: Maybe this is the quote of the morning, so far, Gary Ginn saying just a moment ago, in describing the scene, "Not a good scene whatsoever," just a moment ago from Gary Ginn, he is the Fayette County Coroner. You're looking at a live picture now of the room where the press conference from Comair will be held. We're expecting that to happen in the next nine minutes or so. This is Erlanger, Kentucky, that's very near Cincinnati, and that's where Comair is base.
Comair, as we've been telling you all morning, is a subsidiary of Delta Airlines, Delta, of course, based here in Atlanta. This Comair flight from Lexington Blue Grass was headed to Atlanta's Hartsfield- Jackson International Airport. So while we wait for the start of the news conference, we'll take a quick break. You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And if you are just joining us this morning, horrible events in Lexington, Kentucky, this morning. On left of your screen, you're looking at the room where a press conference will begin shortly. Comair holding a news conference in Erlanger, Kentucky. Very near Cincinnati, to bring us the very latest information on the crash of a Comair commuter flight, this morning at about 6:07 a.m. Eastern Time. The plane leaving Lexington Blue Grass Airport heading for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport here in Atlanta, Georgia.
The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, about a mile west of the airport crashing into dense woods at the time. We understand there was a fire at the scene of the crash -- of the -- firefighters from the airport arriving on the scene, very quickly putting that fire out, but as of this moment, 49 fatalities, one survivor at a local hospital being treated for very serious injuries in critical condition. Let's listen now to some of the eyewitnesses to this crash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just heard the windows shook on the house. I live at the top of the hill, right up to of Rice Road, here, and you know, the windows shook and I really thought it was a big clap of thunder, so I didn't think much about it and I heard all the sirens and got us all and came down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came out the backdoor and looked and there was no one there and I just looked around and I saw over the hillside, I saw the flash of light and then the explosion and then just a big plume of smoke come up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All right, once again, we continue to follow the developments in this story, obviously, a news conference from Comair, scheduled at the top of the hour, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
NGUYEN: Just minute away.
HARRIS: Just a minutes away. And we'll be joing you with continuing coverage of this story. There is the room again where the press conference will be held shortly. We will be joining you in the course of RELIABLE SOURCES, which begins in just a couple minutes. We're going to take a break right now. You're watching CNN's continuing coverage of this air disaster of the downing of a Comair flight crashed shortly after takeoff at the Lexington Blue Grass Airport. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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