Crew confusion contributed to Kentucky takeoff accident
Aviation International News » September 2007 August 30, 2007,
10:34 AM  When NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker asked two of his
Safety Board compatriots–both erstwhile airline pilots–whether
they ever took off into “a black hole,” both answered in the
negative.  The NTSB knows that Comair Flight 5191 crashed on
takeoff from the Lexington (Ky.) Blue Grass Airport because the
runway was too short; what it has not determined is why two
high-time airline pilots stopped briefly at the hold-short line
for 3,501-foot-long Runway 26 and then turned onto it instead of
crossing and continuing on to their assigned Runway 22.
Investigators are perplexed as to why the crew missed visual
clues that they were on the wrong runway. With the captain
handling taxiing duties and the first officer running
checklists, the Bombardier CRJ100 stopped alongside the lighted
runway marker, which clearly indicated Runway 26, not Runway 22.
After holding short for 46 seconds at Runway 26