The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a “shut name” between a JetBlue flight that was getting ready to land and a Learjet that took off with out clearance Monday night time at Boston Logan Worldwide Airport, the company mentioned in an announcement.
The incident occurred shortly earlier than 7 p.m. ET Monday, the FAA mentioned.
“In response to a preliminary evaluate, the pilot of a Learjet 60 took off with out clearance whereas JetBlue Flight 206 was getting ready to land on an intersecting runway,” the assertion mentioned.
The FAA added: “An air site visitors controller instructed the pilot of the Learjet to line up and wait on Runway 9 whereas the JetBlue Embraer 190 landed on Runway 4-Proper, which intersects Runway 9. The Learjet pilot learn again the directions clearly however started a takeoff roll as a substitute. The pilot of the JetBlue plane took evasive motion and initiated a climb-out because the Learjet crossed the intersection.”
“The FAA will decide the closest proximity between the 2 plane as a part of the investigation,” the assertion mentioned.
Representatives for Learjet couldn’t instantly be reached for remark Tuesday.
A spokesperson for JetBlue mentioned Tuesday in an emailed assertion that the flight in query carried out a “go-around” earlier than it landed. A go-around is when a crew decides to not land, determining a special method to land or a special airport to land at.
“JetBlue flight 206 landed safely in Boston after our pilots had been instructed to carry out a go-around by air site visitors controllers,” the assertion mentioned. “Security is JetBlue’s first precedence and our crews are educated to react to conditions like this. We are going to help authorities as they examine this incident.”
In response to the flight-tracking web site FlightAware, the flight took off from Nashville, Tennessee.
The Learjet was a non-public constitution operated by Hop-A-Jet, the FAA mentioned. Nobody with Hop-A-Jet may instantly be reached for remark Tuesday afternoon.
The FAA issued a “security name to motion” this month and mentioned it can type a security evaluate staff after a string of regarding airline incidents.
“We’re experiencing the most secure interval in aviation historical past, however we can not take this as a right,” appearing FAA Administrator Billy Nolen mentioned in a memo launched Feb. 14. “Current occasions remind us that we should not develop into complacent.”
The memo was an acknowledgment of latest shut calls plaguing the aviation business.
In January, a Delta Air Strains airplane about to take off was frantically ordered to halt when controllers observed an American Airways plane crossing its path at New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport. In December, a flight taking off from Maui, Hawaii, plummeted to merely 800 toes above the Pacific Ocean earlier than it recovered. And in Austin, Texas, this month a FedEx cargo airplane making an attempt to land and a Southwest Airways flight getting ready to take off narrowly averted a collision.
Nolen mentioned he’s forming a security evaluate staff “to look at the U.S. aerospace system’s construction, tradition, processes, techniques and integration of security efforts” and to search for alternatives to handle security dangers.
A security summit will probably be held in March to discover what extra actions must be taken to make sure aviation security, the memo mentioned.