‘Stop! Stop!’: Boston-bound flight involved in near-miss on runway

BOSTON — A close call in the nation’s capital on Thursday morning after a JetBlue flight bound for Boston had a near-miss with another airplane during takeoff.

JetBlue flight 1554 with service from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, to Boston, aborted takeoff around 7:40 a.m. due to Southwest Airlines flight 2937 attempting to cross the runway, according to authorities.

An audio recording from air traffic controllers captured the frantic efforts that prevented a tragedy:

DCA TOWER: JetBlue 1554, Stop!

DCA GROUND: Southwest, Stop! Southwest 2937, Stop!

Southwest Pilot: We stopped. We were cleared to cross runway 4.

JetBlue Pilot: We’re stopping, JetBlue 1554

One controller was responsible for the airport runways while the other was in charge of taxiing planes, CNN reported.

The JetBlue aircraft was inspected before taking off to Boston and there were no reports of any injuries. The Southwest flight ultimately continued to Orlando.

“Safety is JetBlue’s first priority, and we will work closely with federal officials as this event is fully investigated,” a JetBlue spokesperson said.

This incident is eerily similar to one that happened at Boston’s Logan Airport in February 2023 when a JetBlue flight nearly collided with a Learjet 60 that took off without clearance.

The FAA is investigating Thursday’s incident.

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