FAA investigating ‘close call’ between planes at Boston airport

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a “close call” between two jets on Monday night at a Boston airport, after a private charter jet nearly crashed into a JetBlue plane.

The FAA told The Hill that the pilot of a Learjet 60 took off without clearance at Boston’s Logan International Airport at the same time that JetBlue Flight 206 was preparing to land on an intersecting runway, according to a preliminary review by the department.

The agency said the incident occurred right before 7 p.m. on Monday, when an air traffic controller instructed the pilot of the Learjet to wait on the runway while the JetBlue jet landed on an intersecting runway. Instead, the pilot of the LearJet began a takeoff roll, causing the JetBlue airliner to take “evasive action.”

The Learjet was operated by a private charter company, Hop-A-Jet, according to the FAA.

The FAA will work to determine exactly how close the two jets came to each other. 
The incident in Boston follows a similar close call in Texas earlier this month — an event that is also under investigation.

A FedEx cargo plane in Austin nearly landed on a runway where a Southwest flight was preparing to take off. The FedEx plane pulled back up in time to avoid a collision.