Pilots prattled before crash

In the minutes before the crash of a commuter jet that took off from the wrong runway, the pilots discussed their families, their dogs and other job opportunities, and the airline said Wednesday that part of the conversation violated a federal rule against extraneous cockpit chatter.

The National Transportation Safety Board released a transcript Wednesday of the cockpit recording aboard Comair Flight 5191. The recording also showed that one of the pilots noted something was amiss when he looked down the Lexington, Ky., airstrip and said it looked “weird” because it had no lights.

The transcript was the first public disclosure of the pilots’ conversations during the ill-fated flight, in which 49 people were killed in the deadliest American aviation disaster in five years.

The transcript revealed that the flight crew “did not follow Comair’s general cockpit procedures,” Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx said.

In 1981, the Federal Aviation Administration adopted a so-called “sterile cockpit rule” that forbids, among other things, extraneous conversation during taxi, takeoff and landing.

As the pilots went through preflight procedures, Capt. Jeffrey Clay talked about his young children having colds, and co-pilot James Polehinke discussed his four dogs. The two men also talked about pay and working conditions, even as the controller occasionally interrupted to provide instructions.

Peter Goelz, former managing director at NTSB, said a little extraneous conversation among pilots is not unusual, but the extent of the chatter between the Comair crew was rare.