An American Airlines flight was forced to abort its takeoff after another plane veered straight onto its runway. As reported by the New York Post, the plane was flying from Miami to Bermuda.
The wild incident happened on Friday, June 27. The plane was just about to take off, reading in at around 60mph, when they spotted "another aircraft on the runway."
The other plane appeared to be a business jet. Air traffic control audio from the event explained the situation's origin, which looked like a miscommunication.
"You just crossed an active runway!" a controller exclaimed to the pilot. "You just told me to cross the runway sir," the pilot replied. "No, we said Amerijet 461."
So the business pilot might have mistakenly heard the permission for Flight 461 to pass, and took that as their opportunity to go.
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The Federal Aviation Administration Weighed in on the Incident
The Federal Aviation Administration explained that they were opening an investigation into the incident between the two flights.
They later revealed that the private business plane was not authorized to be on the runway, adding another layer of confusion to the whole situation.
According to CNN, the company who owns the plane, NetJets, had released a statement about the incident. They explained that a third-party vendor had been using the plane at the time. It was a "maintenance" vendor.
American Airlines also released a statement which said in part, "We appreciate the quick actions of our crew members and thank our customers for their understanding." The flight managed to depart for Bermuda not long after, and ended up touching down safely not too long after.
There Was Another American Airlines Flight Close Call Recently
There's a pretty worrying trend of these close calls happening recently, especially with American Airlines. As we reported when it happened earlier this month, a pilot had some issues when his plane got struck by lightning.
The plane took off from England's London Heathrow Airport, and, within 30 minutes, it had been struck by lightning. It was slated to go to Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
