An Alaska Airways Boeing 737 Max aborted a takeoff at Nashville Worldwide Airport on Thursday to keep away from hitting a Southwest flight that had mistakenly been given clearance to taxi throughout the runway. The power put by way of the wheels throughout braking blew out the Alaska aircraft’s tires. The 78-ton plane reached 120 miles per hour earlier than the takeoff was referred to as off. The incident occurred regardless of Nashville being one in every of 4 airports reportedly geared up with the FAA’s newest runway security know-how.
The near-miss seems to not have been the results of an error by both flight crew. Air visitors management cleared Southwest Airways Flight 2029 to cross the runway because the aircraft ready to take off for Jacksonville, in line with NBC Information. Regardless of the blown-out tires, the stopped aircraft bought off the runway however not again to the terminal. Alaska Airways despatched a substitute aircraft to fly all 176 passengers onboard to Seattle on the identical day, together with a refund and a further $1,000.
Southwest Airways was concerned in an identical incident at Regan Nationwide Airport in Washington, D.C. earlier this yr. Air visitors management cleared a Southwest aircraft to cross a runway as a JetBlue flight was taking off, and each plane got here inside 400 ft of one another. Each near-misses are a symptom of the present scarcity of air visitors controllers.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the near-miss in Nashville. In April, the company acknowledged that new floor consciousness know-how could be put in at 4 airports by July to help overworked controllers and enhance security, Reuters reported. The FAA refused to touch upon if this technique was working through the incident.
