Turbine D:
There was not consensus among the 5 NTSB members that investigated this accident. In fact, 2 of the 5 members wrote dissenting addendum letters to the original report. The NTSB report conclusions, in essence, stated the pilot and co-pilot were guilty of taking off on the wrong runway while glossing over other factors. However, the dissenting NTSB member's letters claimed the FAA was equally as guilty, because:
1. The FAA violated their own rules by not having two ATC persons in the tower as required.
2. The FAA failed to publish current information to the crews operating in and out of LEX as to ongoing construction at the end of the main runway making for unusual taxiing maneuvering to get to the main runway point for takeoff.
3. The FAA violated their own rules by having an ATC person in the tower that did not have the required hours of rest between shifts, that morning from the previous evening.
True.
But, I wasn't speaking of the full Board's conclusions. I was speaking of one aspect of the field investigation.
The dissenters were obviously upset with the FAA's attitude about ATC staffing throughout the system and were using the staffing at the time of this crash as a conduit to sound off. That is the way the five political appointees work.
Whether better staffing would have stopped these two pilots from pulling the trigger is problematic.