Listen to the moment FTA warns pilots about near-fatal plane crash
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Audio files reveal the dramatic moment air traffic controllers warned pilots of a near-fatal plane crash at 115mph.
Federal Transit Authority workers went into action Friday night to prevent an outbound Delta flight carrying 145 passengers from crashing into the side of a UK-bound American Airlines flight.
The Delta flight was preparing to take off when it was forced to slam on the brakes, coming to a stop just 1,000 feet from a potentially fatal collision.
It appears that the anonymous American Airlines pilot had crossed into the wrong lane, appearing right in front of the accelerating Delta plane.
But throughout the entire process, the Delta pilot seemed calm and collected, even calmly telling Air Traffic Control that he simply needed to return to the gate and “make a few phone calls.”
An American Airlines plane was seen crossing the path of a Delta flight as it was about to take off. Air traffic control exclaimed ‘Shit!’ when they noticed the possible collision
Recordings from the Federal Transit Authority detail the moments immediately before and after the possible crash at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport around 8:45 p.m. Friday.
It begins with the American Airlines pilot saying the flight was ready to taxi to a runway, to which an air traffic controller says they should take runway 4 left and “stay clear of Kilo.”
The female pilot repeats the message moments before another air traffic controller tells her to continue on the route and “cross runway 31 to the left at Kilo.”
She replies that she’s ‘crossing 31 left at Kilo’, but starts to pull into the wrong lane and goes straight instead of turning left.
Just a moment later, air traffic control clears the Delta flight headed for the Dominican Republic that is ‘cleared for takeoff’.
The pilot affirms the message by saying: ‘Cleared for takeoff, runway 4 left, Delta 1943.’
But as it was going down the runway at 115 mph, an air traffic controller noticed that the Delta flight was about to collide with the American Airlines flight.
‘Shit, oh! F***’ a controller was heard saying.
At that moment, another air traffic controller comes on the radio urging: “America 106 Heavy, America 106 Heavy, Heavy, hold position… American 106 Heavy, hold position.”
Meanwhile, a third air traffic controller tells the Delta pilot: ‘Delta 1943 canceled takeoff clearance! Delta 1943 cancels takeoff clearance.
The pilot replies that he “rejects”, while an air traffic controller asks him what his intentions are.
“Yeah, we’re going to have to go somewhere, run through a couple of checklists and probably make some phone calls for Delta 1943,” the pilot says calmly.
An air traffic controller says that the plane can “round right at Bravo and miss Hotel Bravo”, which the pilot repeats once more.
But another air traffic controller ten asks: ‘Delta 1943, did you make the change?’
‘Yes sir, we did,’ replies the pilot.
‘OK, I guess you are [going to] you want to move, right?
“Uh, well, uh, we’ve got to make a couple of phone calls here and I think we’re going to head back to a gate,” the pilot says, apparently shrugging off the near miss.
The air traffic controller agrees with your assessment and says, ‘OK, I thought so too.’
He then turned his attention to the rogue American Airlines flight, saying there was a “possible pilot diversion” and “I have a number for you, I advise you read to copy.”
The female pilot replies that she is ready to copy the phone number, while an apparent co-pilot asks: ‘The last authorization they gave us, they authorized us to cross, is that correct?’
The air traffic controller replies, ‘I guess we’ll listen to the tapes, but you were supposed to go out in 4L.’ It currently does not reach runway 31L.
The Delta flight finally took off at Santo Domingo airport in the Dominican Republic the next morning, while the American Airlines flight arrived on time at London Heathrow on Saturday morning (file footage)
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board announced that they would launch investigations into the incident.
A Delta spokesperson said in a statement that it “will work with and assist aviation authorities in a full review of Flight 1943 on January 13 regarding a successful aborted takeoff procedure at New York-JFK.”
“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay in their travel.”
American Airlines had no comment on the incident and said it will refer all questions to the FAA.
Former US Department of Transportation General Mary Schiavo told CNN the incident fell into the “most serious category of runway incursions” (category A) and that such cases are on the rise.
John Cox, a retired pilot and professor of aviation safety at the University of Southern California, told NBC News: “The Delta crew was doing exactly what they were supposed to do.”
He added that he thought the controller “made a good call to reject takeoff.”
And Cox said the aborted takeoff safety maneuver, which is when pilots stop the aircraft and abort takeoff, is something they are “very, very familiar with.”
βThe pilots practice the rejected takeoff almost every time they get to the simulator,β he said.
“They will go back and listen to every transmission between the US plane and air traffic control to see who misunderstood what,” Cox said.