LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The Transportation Security Administration has been combing through thousands of pages of legal documents in the case of last summer's Kentucky plane crash to make sure no secret information about aviation procedures becomes public.
It's an under-the-radar role for the branch of the Department of Homeland Security, which is better known for its screening of passengers and baggage prior to commercial flights.
Forty-nine people died when the Comair jet took off at Blue Grass Airport from the wrong runway, which was too short for a plane of that size. It was the first American commercial airplane crash since TSA was created in November 2001.
TSA has had no role in the investigation, but spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the agency got involved "because airline manuals often have overlap between safety and security procedures."
Kudwa said the agency inspected some 39,000 pages of documents sought in lawsuits filed by families of victims, searching for "sensitive security information" -- a designation below classified but that involves airline operations that the government wants to keep away from terrorists.
Jim Hall, a former director of the National Transportation Safety Board, said he is surprised that an agency that usually deals with threats like terrorism would get involved in reviewing the legal documents of a crash that was an accident.
"It totally shocks me," Hall said. "I have no understanding what their role would be unless it was a criminal matter, and that would seem to be handled by the FBI. If I were a family member, I would definitely want to know what the TSA was doing."
Most of the files were reviewed between March and May and returned, said Kudwa, who acknowledged the review likely had a role in delaying the release of documents in the case.
However, attorney Stan Chesley, who is representing two families in lawsuits against Comair, said his firm was still waiting for records and depositions to be distributed to the attorneys in the case.
When those documents are returned to be filed in the public record, the sensitive data will be blacked out.
Kudwa declined to comment on what specific information was being redacted, but she said it was limited in scope despite the heavy stack of documents reviewed. Michael Gobb, executive director of Blue Grass Airport, which Comair has listed in a countersuit, said the TSA review came at the request of Comair, which is based in Erlanger, Ky.
The Comair plane clipped trees and a fence before crashing into a nearby farm. Only the co-pilot survived. There was only one air traffic controller in the tower that morning, despite an FAA directive that air and ground responsibilities should be divided between two people.
The NTSB will meet Thursday in Washington to decide on a cause or causes of the crash and propose any safety recommendations.
