(LEXINGTON, Ky.) -- A federal court document filed by attorneys for Blue Grass Airport blames the airline and flight crew for the crash of Comair Flight 5191 and contends the airport shares no blame for the crash and loss of 49 lives.

"The sole proximate cause of the tragic accident ... was the negligent and wrongful conduct of Comair and its flight crew," the airport contended Thursday in a response to the lawsuit filed against it and the federal government.

The Urban County Airport Board reiterated in the response that the airport is safe and a series of errors by the crew of the airliner led to the Aug. 27 crash. The document filed by the board said recent airport construction and runway changes were published in Notices to Airmen, or NOTAMS, that informs pilots of changes in signs, markings or construction work at airports.

The plane took off from the wrong runway and was unable to gain altitude. It crashed and burned near the end of the runway and only the co-pilot, James Polehinke, survived.

Either Comair failed to provide pilots information about recent airport construction and runway changes or pilots failed to read the information, called Notices to Airmen, the board said. Pilots also failed to devote all their attention to cockpit and taxi procedures, the airport alleged.

Because of sovereign immunity, which prohibits lawsuits against government entities in many instances, the airport said it cannot be sued. The response added that a U.S. District Court judge in Lexington was asked to dismiss Comair's lawsuit that said the airport shares responsibility for the crash.

"As today's filings demonstrate, Comair's lawsuit ignores the law and does not have the facts on its side," airport officials said in a statement. The airport accused Comair of trying to have it both ways by denying liability in lawsuits filed by crash victims' families but trying to spread blame in the carrier's lawsuit against the airport and Federal Aviation Administration.

"If Comair and (its) insurance company really believe they are not liable, they should not be asking others to share a financial burden," the airport said.

The National Transportation Safety Board has not yet released information from the flight's voice and data recorders. Nor has the FAA released recordings of conversations between the pilots and control tower, despite open-records requests from numerous media outlets since the crash.

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(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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