‘People on the plane gasped’: FAA investigating incident involving flight at Logan Airport on 9/11

BOSTON — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident involving a United Airlines flight at Logan Airport on September 11.

An air traffic controller at Logan instructed United Airlines Flight 2267 to perform a “go-around” shortly before 11 p.m. because a prior arrival was still on the runway, the FAA said in a statement shared with Boston 25.

A go-around is described by the FAA as a “safe, routine procedure performed at the discretion of a pilot or an air traffic controller,” but to an airline passenger, the event might seem like an emergency maneuver.

A passenger on the plane told Boston 25 in an email that the maneuver was abrupt in nature.

“People on the plane gasped at the rapid pull-up and the roar of the engines as the rapid change in speed and trajectory pushed us backward into our seats and we saw the tarmac and land rapidly disappear under us,” the passenger said. “Once we were back high in the sky circling, the pilot came on the loudspeaker and said something like, ‘The runway... uh... was not able to be cleared of planes in time for us... uh.... we had to pull up and will circle for a bit and land shortly.’”

In an audio recording obtained by Boston 25, the air traffic controller could be heard telling the pilot, “Sorry about that. An aircraft was still on the runway.”

When a go-around occurs, the air traffic controller and pilot are said to be working together to “prevent an unsafe condition from occurring.”

The entirety of the go-around maneuver was also illustrated in a FlightAware Animation.

Animation shows plane making loop after attempting to land at Logan FlightAware

The incident comes after the FAA in late August announced that Logan was awarded $44.9 million in new funding aimed at reducing the chance of “close calls” on runways.

Logan was identified as a recipient of the funding following a string of “close calls.”

On Aug. 14 an American Airlines flight nearly collided with another plane. The incident involved an air traffic controller telling the pilot to cancel a takeoff because a Spirit Airlines flight was close to a line on the runway where planes are supposed to stop, according to the FAA.

Back on February 27, a JetBlue pilot narrowly avoided a collision with a private charter jet on the runway. And on March 6, a United plane clipped a parked plane while pushing back from its gate.

Boston 25 has reached out to United for a statement on Monday’s incident.

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