Well let's not forget other times when aircraft have taken off the wrong runway, or even the taxiway. ANC comes to mind. The only difference is the crew was lucky enough to get away with their mistake. LEX in particular has a different layout at the north end than most airports, and when you throw in night conditions, construction in progress, and a hump on 4/22 that makes it appear to be about 3,500 feet long from the departure end, it is easy to see where the term "chain of events" comes from. Not to mention other minor factors such as the tower operating with less than the specified number of controllers, the short taxi time with 1st flight items to run, etc. Of course, the crew error was the final contributing factor to this accident and I'm not taking the responsibility off their shoulders, but it's possible that if just one of the minor contributing factors not happened, this entire accident may have been avoided. An armchair quarterback will sit back and talk about how he could never make such a basic mistake, while true professionals will take the time to understand exactly how the events took place, and try to learn as much as they can from it. Those who say "it could never happen to me" are the ones to watch out for.