"These guys royally f****d up, and it should serve as a reminder that we should be paying attention as we get ready to blast off. That is the only lesson we can take away from this tragedy."
Hi Sqwak, first off I am neither pilot nor aviation professional, only interested observer and occasional pax. That said, I have followed the thread with interest and disagree with some of your statement.
Certainly they messed up royally, agreed.
That is the only lesson, disagree. Consider the swiss cheese model, it has many holes, but the event only occurs when they all line up. In the instance at hand, there was runway construction, lights absent, possibly ambiguous or obscure or unread or unremembered notifications, possible lack of required ATC personnel, possible inattendence or poor attention of ATC, possible poor signage or runway markings, possible weather or time of day factors, and I could continue. All these have been mentioned.
My point is that absent any one of these possibles, there would be no incident and no discussion here. ALL the factors were in place, and some of them were beyond control of the pilots. Yes they should have observed factors beyond their control, and yes they had ultimate responsibility in which they failed. The other factors were also mistakes in the system for which the pilots were not prepared, despite their extensive training, and which should not have been operative. They fell victim to a combination of circumstances including but not limited to their own inattention. JHMO.