On Aug 30, 9:25 am, Jonathan Goodish wrote:
I'm all for holding negligent companies and individuals responsible
under the legal system. However, attempting to shift blame to a runway
lighting company or contractor who had absolutely ZERO honest liability
in this situation, is entirely frivolous. The accident was caused by
the mistakes of the flight crew, and inasmuch as that liability is
shared, by the company that employed them.

While I am also convinced the flight crew was primarily at fault, I
can't agree that the lighting company/contractor had "absolutely ZERO
honest liability" in this situation. If you read the article, you
would know that:

On Aug. 25, 2006, the airport issued a notice to
pilots that "numerous lights" on the main runway
were out of service. That night, at 1:40 a.m. Aug.
26, Polehinke landed at Lexington on a flight from
New York. The captain of that flight told the
NTSB that only about an eighth of the edge lights
on Runway 22 were lit.

I don't think this is a huge stretch. If nearly 90% of the lights on
4/22 were out the night before, it would not seem strange that 100% of
them were out the next morning. They were not primarily responsible,
but I really doubt that they have "ZERO honest" liability.

Not an excuse, but another link in the chain.

Austin