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Show Details on page 29 Check it out! 120Q6J1] Controller at air crash site had only two hours of sleep Brown said that at the time of the accident, LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair there were only two other towers _ in Dulutb, Minn., and Fargo, N.D. __ that were not folFlight 5191 crashed had only two hours of lowing the policy to staff with two controlsleep before starting work on the overnight lers. shift, a federal investigator said Wednesday. "We have clarified the guidance for them," National Transportation Safety Board Brown said. member Debbie Hersman said the controller She said staffing was adjusted at four had only nine hours off between work shifts other towers earlier this month, before the Saturday. That was just enough to meet federal rules, which require a minimum of eight Comair crash. "This is an issue we've been looking at," she said. hours off between shifts, Hersman said. Scott Zoeckler, who worked as a controller The controller, a 17-year veteran whose at Blue Grass for 25 years before retiring in name has not been released publicly, worked 2004, said the overnight and early morning from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. He came back to work at 11:30 p.m. on the same shifts were usually manned by only one person. day to begin an eight-hour overnight shift. On Sunday, the controller on duty at the The commuter jet crashed on Sunday morning, in the final hours of the controller's Lexington airport had turned his back to shift, while trying to take off from Blue Grass perform some "administrative duties" when the plane veered onto the wrong runway, Airport. investigators said. Federal officials have been looking for explanations for why Flight 5191 mistakenly The crash's only survivor, first officer tried to take offfroma runway that was too James Polehinke, who was flying the plane short, crashing in a nearby field and killing when it crashed, remained hospitalized 49 of 50 people on board. Wednesday in critical condition. Jed Doty, a Louisville flight instructor who The crash threw a spotlight on another also flew briefly for Comair last year, said it is practice aviation experts say goes on around the pilot's duty to get on the right runway. the country: Small regional airports are "It's your responsibility to immediately sometimes manned by a single air traffic controller, even though federal rules require two. speak up because, especially in busy airports, you can get in some pretty bad situaThe Federal Aviation crash tions pretty quickly," Doty said. Administration has directed Blue Comair Fbght$191. a regional je! On Wednesday, six tour Grass Airport and others like it carrying S7 posscngors and throe crew members, crashed buses took the victims' families to to staff their towers with at least just after takeuH from Blus Grc, the crash site for the first time. The two controllers. But the FAA has Airport in Lexington, Ky airport also established a memorial acknowledged that only one was in a parking lot, featuring a banner working Sunday in Lexington durreading "Remembering 5191" with ing the crash. pens for people to write messages. In a policy outlined in a direcLaw firms lined up to reptive last November, the FAA said resent family members who want to two controllers must be on duty sue for negligence. One Fort Worth, for all shifts at any airport that Texas, firm published a full-page ad handles both control tower obser- Bombardier CRJ-200 in Wednesday's Lexington Heraldvations and radar operations. Leader promising families it would But Ken Spirito, director of a seek "the greatest amount of damregional airport in Peoria, 111., said ages allowed by law." it's common for some late-night 69 ft. 7 in and early morning shifts to be Comair offered to pay (21.2 m) staffed with only one controller. $25,000 per passenger to each fam20 ft. 5 in. Someone may call in sick or take ily who lost a loved one. (6.2 m) a vacation, and the FAA usually Comair spokeswoman Kate 87 tt. 10 in. (26.6 m) decides to keep the airport open, Capacity Marx would not say how many he said. families had requested the payment, of 50 which she said "in no way prejudices "The mandate that is issued by 6 ft 1 in. ( 1 9 m) their right to any claim they may FAA is only as good as the staffhave under the applicable law." ing levels at that particular tower," a ft. 4 In. (2 5 m| Spirito said. FAA spokeswoman Laura OBSTETRICS CARE BRIAN W. CARLSON, M . D . , FAMILY MEDICINE k<rt< e^Khe^C^^f? Brian W. 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