LEXINGTON, Ky.-
The co-pilot who survived the crash of Comair Flight 5191 underwent surgery on his fractured spine Wednesday and it may be weeks–if not months–before he can return home, a hospital official said.
James Polehinke was in serious condition Wednesday night. The co-pilot was the lone survivor of the Aug. 27 crash that killed 49 people.
Andrew Bernard, a trauma surgeon at University of Kentucky Hospital who has treated Polehinke, said the pilot could enter a physical therapy program at another medical facility as early as next week. Polehinke faces several months of rehabilitation.
“It’s possible he won’t be able to walk again, but only time will tell,” Bernard said.
Polehinke’s family said this week that his left leg has been amputated. Other surgeries have repaired his broken right leg and foot.
A police officer pulled Polehinke out of the charred wreckage after the regional jet crashed trying to take off from Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport.
According to federal investigators, the captain taxied the jet onto a runway that was too short before Polehinke took over the controls and tried to get the jet airborne. The taxiway route had been changed a week before the crash due to construction.
Meanwhile, a crash victim’s family sued the airline Tuesday, claiming negligence. The lawsuit filed by the mother of Cecile Moscoe is among a half-dozen filed in federal court against Comair and its parent company, Delta Air Lines.
One lawsuit in state court involving a disagreement among relatives of a crash victim also names the airline as a defendant.
At the airport before dawn Wednesday, about a dozen family members watched as attorneys and experts inspected the runways and taxiways under conditions intended to resemble those when the plane crashed that morning.
David Gleave, an investigator hired by a lawyer representing a family suing Comair, said the inspection showed that runway markings are too small, poorly placed and barely visible in the dark.
Robert Clifford, an attorney representing another family, said pilots wouldn’t have been able to see the end of the shorter runway during takeoff, making it more difficult to abort.
He noted though that the data needed to be analyzed.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the ongoing investigation prevents her from talking about Blue Grass Airport specifically but that the agency constantly reviews the standards at each airport.
Blue Grass Airport initially declined to comment on the inspections, citing a National Transportation Safety Board investigation, but later Wednesday released a statement blasting what it called “so-called experts” who are “hired marketing guns for plaintiffs attorneys.”
“Our airport meets or exceeds FAA airport safety and security requirements,” the airport said. “Any statement to the contrary is factually incorrect and disingenuous.”
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