The Lexington ATC was NOT doing traffic count after he cleared Comair 5191 for takeoff

Dave S wrote in news:T%_uh.16106$yx6.10555
@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net:

Very interesting reading... and while there may be plenty of blame to
pass around, when push comes to shove, the aircraft was cleared to
depart from the proper runway, but the Pilot In Command effectively
failed to ensure that they were in fact lined up on that runway. It was
his responsibility. Regardless of any and all other contributing
factors, the FAA and the air traffic controllers weren't flying the
plane, the Pilot (and his crew) was.

Is this really about making things safer, or is this about exploiting
tragedy to advance an agenda?

While we pilots shouldn't depend on "safety nets", in my opinion, ATC is
our safety net for when we make mistakes.

The ATC folks that do catch our mistakes get very little media attention.
You can bet if that ATC controller had caught the mistake, it wouldn't
have made the comic page. Had that LEX mistake been caught at Ohare, it
may have made the third page.

Unfortunately, it does take a tragedy to get things changed.

In the LEX case, in my opinion, IF the controller was truly overworked,
that is where our safety net failed.

Allen