Blue Grass Airport Closes 2006 Accident Runway

Kentucky’s Blue Grass Airport closed Runway 8-26 and has begun building a replacement crosswind runway that will be named 9-27 and will extend 500 feet longer than the old runway, to 4,000 feet. Runway 8-26 was involved in the Aug. 27, 2006 fatal takeoff crash of Comair Flight 5191, in which the NTSB cited the flight crew’s failure to verify that the airplane was on the correct runway. The new runway relocation project is budgeted at $27 million and is part of $66 million worth of airport improvement projects. “Forecasts through 2015 indicate that general aviation activity will continue to account for more than one-half of the total operations at Blue Grass Airport,” said Bobby Owens, chairman of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Airport Board. “This new runway is critical to allowing us to maintain the capability of landing lighter corporate and private aircraft during crosswind conditions.”