The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a close call incident between two passenger planes at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Friday, the transportation agency announced.
A departing Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 flight started to take off from a JFK runway but was forced to stop its takeoff midway because of an American Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft crossing that same runway, the FAA said in a statement to The Hill, based on preliminary information ahead of the investigation.
Air traffic controllers noticed the potential collision and scrambled to alert both flights, asking the Delta flight to cancel takeoff and the American plane to stay in place.
In an audio recording of air traffic control communications shared online by flight trackers, a voice can be heard shouting expletives when the mistake is apparently realized and controllers call for both planes to heed the warnings.
The Delta plane halted approximately 1,000 feet from the American plane in its path, the FAA said. The aircraft carrying 145 passengers and six crew members was delayed overnight, according to a statement from the airline.
Delta called the incident a “successful aborted takeoff procedure” and said it will work with aviation authorities on a full review of the flight.
The situation follows a number of other airline industry issues, including an outage affecting the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system, which communicates flight hazards to commercial pilots nationwide, as well as widespread delays and cancellations seen on Southwest Airlines over the holidays due to issues with the airline’s scheduling system.
Updated 4:16 p.m.