Last year, the pilot of an American Airlines airliner in New York took off on the wrong runway because the captain was distracted and confused by takeoff instructions and the co-pilot lost track of the plane. The aircraft taxied towards the path of the jetliner. According to documents released Monday.
Disaster was averted when air traffic controllers yelled at the pilot of the other Delta flight to abort the takeoff.
The National Transportation Safety Board has released documents related to its investigation into the January 13, 2023, incident at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The investigation is ongoing, but the board said it has not yet determined a possible cause for the close call.
The overnight incident, one of several close calls at U.S. airports, alarmed the public and lawmakers, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to hold a “safety summit” last year.
The pilot of an American Airlines Boeing 777 bound for London took a wrong turn on the taxiway, which runs along two perpendicular runways. The crew had originally planned to take off from Runway 31L. However, I then received instructions from the controller and a message on the cockpit computer that instructed me to taxi to 31L and take off from Runway 4L.
In subsequent interviews, the NTSB said, “all three[American Airlines]pilots stated that they understood at that time that[the flight]would depart from Runway 4L.”
Instead, they passed through 4L just as a Delta Airlines Boeing 737 began its takeoff roll on the same runway.
Captain Michael Graber said he saw the red runway lights come on as the plane passed through the center of Runway 4L. Lights warn pilots when it is unsafe to be on the runway.
“All of a sudden I saw a red light and I immediately said something and I thought it was strange,” he told investigators. “I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew something was wrong.”
The captain applied pressure to speed up and cross.
Graeber told investigators that he heard and understood the instructions from the controller, but was so distracted by the workload that he mentally believed he was taking off from the other runway. He said it might be.
Co-pilot Tracy Gonzalez said he knew all along that the plane was to cross Runway 31L, but “was not aware of the plane’s location when the captain taxied to Runway 4L.” Investigators wrote: “She knew they were approaching the runway, but she didn’t realize they were approaching Runway 4L.”
The co-pilot also blamed distractions such as an unusually high number of weather warnings.
A third person in the cockpit, Jeffrey Wagner, a rescue pilot on a long-haul international flight, said the plane was “head down” as it drove towards the runway and he had no idea where he was. When they passed the wrong runway and saw the plane to their right, he said he initially thought it might be taxiing behind them.
The Delta Air Lines pilot was alerted by air traffic controllers and was able to apply the brakes and come to a stop. The planes never came closer than about 1,000 feet (300 meters), which was not a comfortable margin from an aviation safety standpoint.
The controller warned the American crew that the pilot might deviate and gave them a phone number, which the captain called. After a delay, they took off for London – this time on runway 31L. The crew did not report the incident to American Airlines before takeoff.
Cockpit audio recorded on board the American plane was captured on tape during the six-hour flight to London and lost forever.
Investigators said they made several attempts to interview the American pilots, but the pilots refused on the advice of their union, which objected to the NTSB recording the interviews. The NTSB then took the highly unusual step of issuing subpoenas forcing the crew to submit to recorded interviews.
The pilots’ union, the Allied Pilots Association, had no immediate comment on Monday about the NTSB document.
The report also recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration require better preservation of cockpit audio recordings. These are usually run in a loop where the old sound is recorded onto tape after two hours. Late last year, the FAA finally bowed to NTSB pressure and announced it would offer to not overwrite recordings for 25 hours. However, this only applies to new airplanes.
