Aviation tragedy nearly avoided at JFK Airport

Aviation tragedy nearly avoided at JFK Airport

Aviation officials are breathing a heavy sigh of relief  as two jumbo jets nearly collided near JFK Airport, just missing on another. The audio, released to the public, details the frightened exchange between the air traffic controllers at John F. Kennedy International Airport and a Lufthansa flight as it nearly crashed head-on with an airbus around 6:30pm Monday.

Apparently, the pilots aboard an EgyptAir jetliner willfully ignored the commands of the air traffic controllers who instructed the aircraft to remain grounded and hold short of its taxiway. In failing to do so, the jet veered dangerously close to the other plane, causing the Federal Aviation Commission to step in and investigate the ignorance of the pilots for disobeying direct commands.

"Egypt Air 986, a B777, did not follow ATC instructions to hold short of Taxiway D. As a result, air traffic canceled the takeoff clearance for Lufthansa 411, an A346 on Runway 22R," the FAA stated earlier this week.

In the moments immediately preceding the near-miss, the Lufthansa flight had been cleared for takeoff and was proceeding to make its way down the runway. At that moment, the EgyptAir aircraft taxied directly in its path, causing the Lufthansa jetliner to slam on its brakes to avoid a likely catastrophic collision.

Air traffic controllers could only sit, watch and scream for the Lufthansa jet to "cancel take off!" as the airplane was speeding directly at the EgyptAir plane. The startled Lufthansa pilot responded with "Lufthansa 411 Heavy is rejecting takeoff!"

Thankfully, no one was hurt on either flight. The Lufthansa flight was grounded for close to two hours for a thorough brake inspection before being cleared for takeoff, again, bound for Munich. The plane was carrying 286 commercial passengers. EgyptAir declined to comment on the incident but its plane could hold nearly 400 passengers.

Other pilots having witnessed the events can be heard relaying messages to the tower such as "Good catch, Tower,” “Those two were coming together,” and “That was quite a show, thought it was going to be a short career."

Posted by LedgerLaw on Wednesday June 22 2011, 7:08 PM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Original, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0