Two planes nearly collided on the runway at New York airport
'16.01.2023'
Nadezhda Verbitskaya
On Friday, January 13 in the evening, a passenger plane taking off from Kennedy International Airport was forced to abort takeoff. Another plane crossed the runway just 300 meters ahead of it, reports New York Times.
A Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 was about to take off around 20:45 pm when an American Airlines Boeing 777 overran the runway ahead of it. Delta flight 1943 made a "safe stop" after air traffic controllers spotted another plane.
American Airlines Flight 106 "drifted off the taxiway," the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said. The agency said it was investigating and that information about the incident was "preliminary."
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Kennedy Airport, declined to comment and forwarded questions to the FAA.
Flight 1943 normally flies from New York to the Dominican Republic, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. And American Airlines Flight 106 usually flies from New York to London.
In an audio clip posted to Twitter by Ross Feinstein, a former spokesman for American Airlines and the Transportation Security Administration, air traffic controllers are heard instructing the Delta crew to cancel the takeoff.
One of the controllers then informs the crew members of the American Airlines flight that they were to divert to a different runway.
More of the audio is now available via @liveatc. @FAANews @JFKairport to American 106: "Cross Runway 31L at Kilo."
No other audio is heard before Delta 1943 was cleared for departure and American 106 crossed Runway 4L. https://t.co/mCg2KWLIpl pic.twitter.com/CRFlEYZ1EH
— Ross Feinstein (@RossFeinstein) January 15, 2023
Feinstein said that such close approaches of aircraft to each other on the runways are extremely rare.
“Flying is safer than walking,” Feinstein said. Thanks to the rules we have. Thanks to the airlines, the pilots, that's all of them.”
Delta said it is helping authorities conduct a full crew analysis of the flight, which carried 145 passengers and six crew members.
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After the takeoff abort, the crew returned the aircraft to the boarding gate, where they disembarked the passengers. The airline announced this, adding that the flight was delayed overnight.
“The safety of our customers and crew is always our number one priority,” Delta said. “We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused and the flight delay.”
American Airlines did not say how many people were on board its flight. The airline declined to comment, saying in an email that it would abide by the FAA's decision.
