The pilots of an Air Canada Embraer E175 seemingly didn’t understand taxiing instructions (or something), and that almost caused an EVA Air Boeing 777 to run into them at high speeds. Oy…
In this post:
JFK landing incident close call: “we almost hit them”
YouTube channel You Can See ATC has the details of an incident that happened around 10:30PM on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at New York Kennedy Airport (JFK). This involves two planes that were in sequence to land behind one another, on runway 31R:
- Air Canada Jazz flight QK898 was operated by an Embraer E175, and was arriving from Montreal (YUL)
- EVA Air flight BR32 was operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, and was arriving from Taipei (TPE)
When the Air Canada plane clears the runway, it taxies onto taxiways WW and then B, and it holds position there, since it’s waiting for an Aer Lingus plane to get out of the ramp, so it can taxi in for arrival.
The controller anticipates the potential conflict here. WW is a popular taxiway on which to exit the runway, both given its location, and also given that it doesn’t require a 90-degree turn. So the controller already tells the EVA Air pilots they’ll need to exit on V, which is one taxiway further, to avoid any sort of a conflict.
The controller is really on top of things, and also at this point, he tells the Air Canada plane “once EVA Airlines 777 passes you off your nose, you can make two left turns and go into your ramp.” If I’m understanding things correctly, the Air Canada pilot responds “the 777 is off we can taxi,” which is close enough, I guess, or at least conveys the intent.
But this is where it gets bizarre. The EVA Air pilots do exactly what they’re supposed to do, and exit the runway at taxiway V. Yet at exactly the same time, the Air Canada pilots start taxiing, putting themselves on a collision course with the EVA Air 777.
You can hear the yelling then — “Air Canada, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!” It would appear that these two planes get very close to one another, and since the EVA Air 777 is just landing, it still has some speed. Fortunately the two planes barely miss one another, though as the EVA Air pilot explains, “we come in very, very high speed, we almost hit them.”
Kudos to the JFK controller & EVA Air pilots
Did everyone else notice that the controller on frequency is *that* guy (you know, the one who always gets in fights with everyone), but oddly he’s completely calm in this interaction? Kudos to him! I’m not sure if he has turned over a new leaf, or that he was just so annoyed that he couldn’t even deal.
Anyway, the thing about this guy is that as much as he’s often rather rude, he’s also really good at his job, in terms of noticing everything. He was obviously on top of this situation. And you can tell how annoyed he was by the fact that he didn’t even argue or shout, but instead, just immediately started giving the Air Canada pilot a number for a possible pilot deviation.
I’m really not sure what the Air Canada pilots were thinking here. The controller said they could move once the other plane “passes you off your nose.” They started taxiing exactly when they weren’t supposed to, even though the read back — “the 777 is off we can taxi” — seemed to mostly comprehend what was said.
The Air Canada pilot has a thick accent, but I didn’t get the sense that he wasn’t understanding anything, or that something was lost in translation. But maybe it was? It’s the only logical explanation I can come up with.
Bottom line
An Air Canada Embraer E175 and EVA Air 777 had a very close call at JFK, as they landed right after one another. The controller seemed to realize there could be a potential conflict, so he gave clear instructions for what pilots should do. Yet for whatever reason, the Air Canada pilots did exactly what they weren’t supposed to do, which was to taxi onto a taxiway right as a heavy aircraft was landing.
What do you make of this JFK close call?
That’s a joual accent I hear.
We need to BAN AIR CANADA!
After the HUGE INCIDENT in SFO and now this, its time for state 51 to be banned FOREVER.
Instrument and flying into congested airspace and airports is all about knowing what you are being told to do and follow it.
subplot: Taiwan is not the least bit happy that Canada is snuggling up w/ China.
Actual cause is far too many aircraft without room for maneuver , and communication problems caused by rapid incomprehensive speech .
Limit the number of aircraft , the number of passengers , the size of the aircraft , teach diction and slow-clear-speech to communicators , and there will be an increase in safety.
While I understood EVA is Taiwanese, I am not sure how to make the connection between this post and the politics of the Canadian - Taiwan relationship. I do not think Canada is snubbing Taiwan, it is simply trying to diversify trade away from its friendly neighbour to the south. Do the EVA pilots have a ram Air Canada planes on sight order from their government? Unlikely, given it seems the reverse was about to...
While I understood EVA is Taiwanese, I am not sure how to make the connection between this post and the politics of the Canadian - Taiwan relationship. I do not think Canada is snubbing Taiwan, it is simply trying to diversify trade away from its friendly neighbour to the south. Do the EVA pilots have a ram Air Canada planes on sight order from their government? Unlikely, given it seems the reverse was about to happen. Busy airport, ATC speaking in accented English quickly with complex instructions. English may not have been the first language of the Air Canada plane. Recipe for disaster. It is hard to get a correct order at a drive through these days so imagine how hard it is to deal with this sort of traffic management scenario with a level of complexity a bid in excess of ordering that breakfast of champions, a Big Mac and a Filet o fish.
maybe, maybe Canada-China relations were part of the strong response by the EVA crew and maybe it wasn't but it is beyond naive to not think that EVA doesn't see what is going on between Canada and Taiwan. ATC had to tell EVA multiple times that they (the US FAA) has this covered and you don't need to be involved. EVA can file a report but it is then a government to government incident.
and...
maybe, maybe Canada-China relations were part of the strong response by the EVA crew and maybe it wasn't but it is beyond naive to not think that EVA doesn't see what is going on between Canada and Taiwan. ATC had to tell EVA multiple times that they (the US FAA) has this covered and you don't need to be involved. EVA can file a report but it is then a government to government incident.
and to the comment above, there are plenty of pilots that landed and do land following JFK ATC's instructions. The airfield is complicated but that is true of all large airports.
Language likely did play a factor - the Jazz readback of ATC instructions was not clear.
but let's not forget that there have been English speaking US pilots that have failed to follow ATC directions including AA's 777 crew that crossed in front of a departing DL 737 which had takeoff clearance at JFK and more recently a UA narrowbody that crossed in front of its own company departing 787 after the narrowbody crew was told to hold short.
Mistakes happen but they can be deadly or expensive.
Ben is right that the JFK controller was on his game and kept it from going bad.
It sounds like the AC pilots may have thought the 777 was past them so they were clear to taxi, although they probably should have noticed it still landing.
They can't all be Kennedy Steve...
“Let the abuse start…”
(He does have a great voice. VERY direct.)