My brother-in-law is a pilot. He flew for the Marines until he retired last year. He now flys commercial/private planes. He says he has been on that runway many times and that it can be tricky - especially at night. BUT he says - unfortunately, the crew must not have been paying attention - because even if they had inadvertantly started down the wrong runway - all of their meters and control data (if they had looked at it) would have told them they were heading the wrong way. But I guess after doing this for so long - you can become non-chalant about them. He says terrible news like this - when it happens, is a wakeup call to everyone who flies (pilots) about taking things for granted.