Near-miss at JFK Airport: Interruptions, distractions and multitasking led to close call between US and Delta flights

NEW YORK — Interruptions, distractions and multitasking led to a near collision between an American Airlines flight and a Delta flight traveling 120 MPH on a runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport last year, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. .

The agency's abstract report on the Jan. 13, 2023, incident provided more details about what led to the incident and how a specialized detection system avoided a worse outcome.

Air traffic controllers cleared a Delta Air Lines 737 to take off on runway 4L. However, 20 seconds after the Delta plane began takeoff, a London-bound American Airlines B-777 crossed the same runway without authorization, according to the report.

NTSB investigators said many factors contributed to the American Airlines captain's error, including “interruptions and multitasking that occurred in the cockpit during critical moments of ground navigation.” .

“The other two flight crew members did not understand the captain's error because they were both engaged in tasks that diverted their visual attention from outside the aircraft,” the airline said. agency in a press release.

Additionally, investigators said the ground controller who provided taxi instructions to the American flight “did not notice that the plane had turned onto the wrong taxiway because he was performing a lower priority task that involved looking down,” according to the report.

The investigation found that as the Delta flight accelerated down the runway, JFK Airport Surface Detection Equipment – ​​Model X, or ASDE-X, issued audible and visual alerts in the traffic control tower air.

Five seconds after the alerts were issued, the controller canceled the Delta plane's takeoff clearance, prompting its pilot to decelerate as the American plane passed in front of him, according to the NTSB.

The NTSB has been pushing for ASDE-X technology to be installed in airports since 1991. JFK installed its ASDE-X in 2009 and is one of 35 major airports to have equipped it, according to the NTSB.

“Our investigation also makes clear why we have long supported systems that directly warn crews of risks: because every second counts,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a statement.

The agency issued several recommendations in light of the incident, including encouraging flight crews to verbalize the runway number they are about to cross and pushing aircraft and avionics manufacturers to develop an improved system that would alert flight crews of runway traffic.

Additionally, the NTSB called on the Federal Aviation Administration to require all planes to be equipped with cockpit voice recorders that record 25 hours of audio instead of two hours.

Records of the U.S. flight were lost in that case because the plane continued to London and the data was overwritten, according to the agency.

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