BOSTON – The FAA is investigating a potential close call involving a JetBlue flight bound for Boston Thursday morning. The JetBlue flight was forced to abort takeoff due to another aircraft attempting to cross the runway at Washington Reagan National Airport.
At 7:41 a.m., the FAA said an air traffic controller told the pilot of Southwest Flight 2937 bound for Orlando to cross Runway 4.
At the same time, JetBlue Flight 1554 to Logan Airport was cleared for takeoff from the same runway. An air traffic controller yelled at both pilots to stop immediately.
The planes ended up about 300 feet from each other. No injuries were reported.
The JetBlue aircraft was inspected before taking off for Boston.
CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg says close calls like this happen almost every day, but points out a lapse in communication unique to this case.
“What has to be investigated though is what were two controllers doing, controlling two separate flights at the same airport,” Greenberg said. “That is the interesting thing and that’s what they are going to have to look at.”
Southwest and JetBlue are working with federal officials as the incident is investigated.
