Today marks 15-years since the tragic crash of Comair 51-91 at Lexington’s Bluegrass Airport. Just before sunrise on August 27th, 2006, co-pilot James Polehinke began take-off from the wrong runway, clipped a fence and crashed in a nearby field. 49 out of the 50 people on board were killed. Polehinke was the only survivor. Investigators concluded that confusion over newly resurfaced runways attributed to the cause of the crash.
A memorial erected at the UK Arboretum features 49 silver birds flying towards the sky, one for each person who died on the fated flight.