A commuter jet carrying 50 people crashed in a field and caught fire shortly after taking off in light rain Sunday morning. Authorities said at least one person survived.I hadn't even heard of the crash until I received an email from someone I know that was basically screaming "TERRORISM!" and promoting all kinds of conspiracy theories. This kind of knee-jerk reaction does more harm than good in situations like this, and certainly doesn't help us find out what happened. You never rule anything out this early in the investigation, but at the same time you shouldn't focus on what is perhaps one of the least likely causes. This is what I wrote back:
Comair Flight 5191, a CRJ-200 regional jet with 47 passengers and three crew members, crashed at 6:07 a.m. after taking off for Atlanta, said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
There was no immediate word on what caused the crash in a field about a mile from Blue Grass Airport. The plane was largely intact afterward, but there was a fire following the impact, police said.
"We have no indication at all that this has anything to do with terrorism," said Laura Brown, an FAA spokeswoman.
I hate to rain on your conspiracy theory parade here, but flying is still an imperfect science and sometimes accidents happen (especially right after takeoff). There are a multitude of reasons why a commuter jet like this could go down, and terrorism probably wouldn't even make the top 25.Let me expand on those thoughts a little bit here. As a guy with a little piloting experience and a lifelong interest in aviation, I can tell you that the first minute or so of flight - basically from the time the brakes release on the takeoff roll until the plane gets to 5 or 6 thousand feet - are the most dangerous parts of any flight. The aircraft is operating at high power settings, low altitude, high angles of attack, and slow speeds. That combination can make things very dicey if something goes wrong. If something breaks, or the aircraft loses power, there just isn't a lot of room for error. That's what makes terrorism a very unlikely source of this accident's cause.
While I'm sure that angle is being examined by the authorities, my guess is it's highly unlikely to have occurred in this case. Other than killing a handful of people, what benefit would terrorists get from bringing down a relatively small plane right after takeoff? The whole scenario just doesn't fit the terrorist mold.
If I'm wrong I'll be glad to admit it, but I think jumping to wild conclusions doesn't really help anybody find out what really happened.
I've flown on these types of commuter jets many, many times, and they're pretty nice aircraft. The seating is kind of cramped for a big guy like me, but they're fast, pretty quiet, and they get the job done. I certainly prefer them to the turboprop planes that I used to have to take on some of the shorter routes.
As I understand this aircraft just came out of maintenance, and I'm sure that's the first area that the investigators will examine. Meanwhile, let's hold off on the wild theories until the investigators actually know something.
UPDATE: It sounds like the plane made a crash landing following a loss of power because the local authorities are describing the plane as largely intact, but there was a significant fire following the crash which will probably be the cause of death of most of the passengers. The plane was likely fully fueled for its flight to Atlanta, so any rupture to the fuel tanks would have given plenty of opportunity for a big fire.
One of my concerns with these aircraft has always been the small fusilage and the difficulty of getting out of the airplane in a hurry. A fire in the aircraft's fuel tanks would likely block the overwing exits and make it very difficult to get out.
UPDATE: Officials are saying the probably cause of the accident was the plane taking off on a runway too short to accomodate it.
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