On the eve of safety summit, FAA investigates another close runway emergency – Boston News, Weather, Sports

(CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating yet another close call between commercial aircraft, this time at Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC – the seventh since earlier this year.

On March 7, Republic Airways Flight 4736 crossed a runway that United Airlines Flight 2003 was using for takeoff without clearance, according to a preliminary review, the FAA said. The United pilot had just been cleared to take off from the runway, the agency said.

“An air traffic controller noticed the situation and immediately canceled the United flight’s take-off clearance,” the FAA said.

Recordings accessed from LiveATC.net show air traffic controllers in the tower exclaiming, “United 2003 canceling takeoff clearance!” The United flight crew replied, “Aborting takeoff, United 2003.”

The Republic flight pilot had been cleared to cross a different runway but “turned onto the wrong taxiway,” the FAA said.

News of another close outcome comes ahead of Wednesday’s FAA safety summit, the first of its kind since 2009. The summit will usher in a comprehensive safety review the agency is conducting in the wake of these abuses.

Last month a Southwest passenger plane and a FedEx cargo plane came within 100 feet before a collision at an Austin, Texas airport, and it was a pilot — not an air traffic controller — who averted a disaster, according to Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

And in January there was an alarming bang similar to this latest. A Delta Air Lines flight was taking off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport when air traffic controllers “noticed that another aircraft was crossing the runway in front of the departing jet,” the FAA said in a statement.

“St!” exclaimed the air traffic controller from the tower of John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday evening. “Delta 1943 cancels takeoff clearance!”

The Delta aircraft “stopped its takeoff roll approximately 1,000 feet before it reached the point where American Airlines Flight 106, a Boeing 777, had crossed over from an adjacent runway,” the FAA said.

The NTSB, which is investigating the six other commercial airliner runway raids, told CNN it was aware of the latest incident but had not yet launched an investigation.

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