Another near-miss in the United States

For the fourth time this year, the Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into a near collision between two planes in the United States.

The incident happened shortly before 7 p.m. local time at Boston Logan Airport. A JetBlue Embraer 190 had been cleared to land on runway 4R. At the same time, the crew of a Learjet 60 business jet received the order to position themselves on runway 9 but to wait for the JetBlue plane to land before taking off. The Learjet received this request because runway 9 crosses runway 4R.

According to air traffic control, the Learjet pilots understood they had to wait to take off, but started suddenly again with the “take-off roll”. The JetBlue-Embraer pilots quickly realized this and initiated a go-around when they saw the Learjet cross the runway. This avoided a collision. According to radar data, there was only 160 meters between the two craft when they were closest to each other. The Learjet then took off and flew to Florida. The JetBlue flight landed safely at the airport eleven minutes after the incident.

Outstanding

Remarkably, this is the fourth incident in two months involving a runway incursion. In January, two similar incidents occurred at Honolulu and New York JFK airports. In early February, a FedEx Boeing 767F nearly landed on a Southwest Boeing 737 when the two planes were cleared to use the same runway.