Boston bound JetBlue flight has close call on runway at Reagan National
BOSTON - The FAA is investigating a close call involving a JetBlue flight bound for Boston Thursday morning. The JetBlue flight was forced to abort takeoff due to another aircraft attempting to cross the runway at Washington Reagan National Airport.
At 7:41 a.m., the FAA said an air traffic controller told the pilot of Southwest Flight 2937 bound for Orlando to cross Runway 4.
At the same time, JetBlue Flight 1554 to Logan Airport was cleared for takeoff from the same runway. An air traffic controller yelled at both pilots to stop immediately.
The planes ended up about 300 feet from each other. No injuries were reported.
Flight data shows the Southwest flight, a Boeing 737-Max 8, never made it to the actual runway. The JetBlue flight, an Embraer 190, made it to 35 miles per hour.
The JetBlue aircraft was inspected before taking off for Boston several hours later.
The FAA is now probing how two planes were green lit to cross paths.
"Obviously the left hand was not talking to the right hand," CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg said. He says close calls like this happen almost every day, but points out a lapse in communication unique to this case.
"What has to be investigated though is what were two controllers doing, controlling two separate flights at the same airport," Greenberg said. "That is the interesting thing and that's what they are going to have to look at."
Southwest and JetBlue are working with federal officials as the incident is investigated.