Almost a disaster as an American Airlines plane passes in front of the departing Delta jet in New York
by Gary Leff on January 14, 2023
On Friday evening, American Airlines Flight 106 from New York JFK to London Heathrow was in a near miss with a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 en route to Santo Domingo. The American plane appears to have attempted to take off from the wrong runway. The incident was the first reported early Saturday morning from flight control JonNYC.
The American Airlines plane was scheduled to exit runway 4L but stopped just short of 31L – and cruised in front of the Delta plane. Air traffic control yelled, “Delta 1943 cancel takeoff clearance!” The Delta aircraft halted its takeoff and cleared the runway.
ATC:Fuck! Delta 1943 cancels takeoff clearance! Delta 1943 canceled takeoff clearance.
Delta: Reject
ATC: Okay, phew, Delta 1943. Delta 1943, can you taxi, or do you need a few minutes to do checks?
Delta: Yes, we can exit Delta 1943 runway.
Meanwhile, air traffic control had words for the American crossing ahead of an active runway:
American: The last clearance we were given, we were cleared to cross, is that correct?
ATC: American 106 Heavy, we’re turning left off runway 4, I guess we’ll listen to the tapes, but you’re supposed to be turning left on runway 4, you’re going left just short of runway 31.
JonNYC shares Air Traffic Control audio excerpts:
Two audio samples @liveatc pic.twitter.com/4ruAWgVO4b
— 🇺🇦 JonNYC 🇺🇦 (@xJonNYC) January 14, 2023
After 14 seconds in this image you can see the Delta plane begin to take off and be aborted at the last minute as the American Airlines Boeing 777-200 cruises right in front.
— Casey Wade (@CaseWade) January 14, 2023
A Delta flight passenger, Brian Healy, reports that in 1943 Delta had accelerated “2 or 3 seconds” when it began to brake, to the amazement of the passengers, who “gasped[ed]’ and fell into ‘complete silence’ before hearing from the captain, who informed the passengers that they had been ordered by air traffic control to abort. They rolled back to the gate and tried again the next morning.
The pilot checked in after a few agonizing minutes to report that ATC had ordered the takeoff to be aborted. It took an hour to taxi back to the gate…and I took a pass to return to JFK this morning when DL1943 finally took off 15 hours later.
— Brian Healy (@bhealyNYC) January 14, 2023
Here’s a report that JonNYC is sharing from someone on board the American plane.
“was on AA106 last night and watched our plane on PlaneFinder. Approaching active runway. Assuming we were about to turn right. Crossed active runway and pilot pressed A LOT of power. Seemed extremely weird. Then sat for about 20 minutes motionless. Makes more sense now that I see it”
— 🇺🇦 JonNYC 🇺🇦 (@xJonNYC) January 14, 2023
Ultimately, air traffic control saw what was happening and acted quickly when the American flight to London appeared to have misunderstood his instructions. I have reached out to American Airlines for comment and will report back when I receive feedback.
More from the perspective of the wing