NTSB recommends better warning systems in JFK near-miss report

Lina PortmanJune 5, 2024

0 2 minutes read

An American Airlines 777 crossed a runway that a Delta plane was using for takeoff in January 2023.
The NTSB said the U.S. flight crew was distracted, leading to the error.
The agency's final report recommends installing improved warning systems in aircraft cockpits.

The National Transportation Safety Board says a near-fatal incident last year at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport was caused by human error.

On January 15, 2023, an American Airlines Boeing 777 crossed a runway on which a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 had begun its takeoff roll.

In a report released Tuesday, the NTSB said “interruptions and multitasking that occurred in the cockpit during critical moments of ground navigation” caused American Airlines crew to become distracted and resulted in inadvertently using the wrong taxiway and crossing an active runway.

According to the NTSB, a ground warning system alerted JFK air traffic controllers that the American Airlines plane had crossed an active runway, and controllers canceled the Delta plane's takeoff clearance. The alert system has been used at JFK since 2009 and the NTSB has recommended installing it at airports nationwide since 1991. Only 35 major U.S. airports currently have the system.

Cruising altitude:Flight delayed or canceled? How to anticipate the problem.

Still, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said a ground warning system may not be enough to prevent a similar incident in the future. The committee recommends requiring aircraft to be equipped with systems that will directly warn pilots of ground navigation errors that could lead to collisions.

“The only reason U.S. aviation has such an exemplary safety record is because we have built additional layers of protection, which is why we need life-saving technologies at more airports of the country,” Homendy said in a statement. “Our survey also clearly shows why we have long supported systems that directly warn flight crews of risks: because every second counts. Fortunately, controllers acted quickly in this case, but safety should not rest solely on their shoulders. Instead, we must back up every component of the system; Direct Crew Alerts do just that.

Runway incursions and other near-misses at airports have been in the spotlight recently, and experts have warned it could be a sign that the country's aviation safety net is thinning.

The NTSB will hold a hearing on another near miss in 2023, when a FedEx Boeing 767 nearly landed on the same runway from which a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 was taking off at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Lina Portman

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