Another near miss has been reported in the United States, this time involving aircraft of Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines. The Alaska Boeing 737 was far into its takeoff roll but had to suddenly stop upon spotting a Southwest 737 crossing the same runway.
Alaska Boeing 737 blows tires to abort takeoff
On September 12, Alaska Airlines
flight 369 from Nashville International Airport in Tennessee was scheduled to depart for Seattle. The Boeing 737 MAX 9 began its takeoff roll down the runway, but just after crossing 100 knots, the pilots had to apply brakes after spotting a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 ahead of them.
Alaska’s 737 had received clearance from the air traffic control, with Reuters citing data from Flightradar24 and reporting that the plane had reached 104 knots (120 mph, 193 km per hour) on the runway before slowing.
Photo: The Global Guy | Shutterstock
The stress from the aborted takeoff led to the Boeing 737 MAX blowing its tires, disrupting the scheduled service. Alaska acknowledged the inconvenience caused to the passengers and offered them a refund as well as $1,000 for the trouble caused. In an email to passengers, it said,
“We recognize how distressing this incident must have been and we are grateful to you and our crew for everyone’s calm and patience throughout this experience.”
Southwest plane was cleared to cross the same runway
The other plane involved in the incident was a Boeing 737-700 belonging to Southwest Airlines
. It was scheduled to fly to Jacksonville, Florida, and was reportedly cleared to cross the end of the same runway from which Alaska was departing.
Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock
Southwest, which has recently been under the microscope for a number of previous incidents, said that it was in contact with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as well as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and would participate in the investigation. Reuters quotes NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy as saying,
“We are clearly very concerned about this (incident) and others we are investigating.”
Previous near misses
There have been many near misses at US airports in the last couple of years, highlighting lapses in US aviation security. The issue of a shortage of air traffic controllers has also surfaced in recent times, with reports of grueling schedules affecting their productivity.
In April, miscommunication at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
led to Southwest and JetBlue planes coming dangerously close
. The Southwest aircraft was told to cross a runway, from which the JetBlue aircraft was also cleared to take off at the same time.
Photo: Lukas Wunderlich | Shutterstock
Something similar
happened at New York JFK earlier this year
when A SWISS Airbus A330-300 was cleared for takeoff, but the pilots had to suddenly cancel the takeoff after seeing three aircraft crossing their path down the runway.
The FAA is trying to control such incidents and has announced several measures to resolve the issue of shortage of ATC workers. Among the things it has announced include moving college and university air traffic control graduates straight to on-the-job training, bypassing the FAA Air Traffic Controller Academy, and filling every seat at the FAA Academy.