ATC Error Leads To Close Call At Washington National Airport

There was a very close call this morning at Washington National Airport (DCA), and I’m sure this will be investigated closely…

Southwest Boeing 737 & JetBlue Embraer E190 incident at DCA

This incident happened today (Thursday, April 18, 2024), and involves two flights that were departing Washington National Airport. Specifically, this involves:

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• A Southwest Boeing 737 MAX 8 with the registration code N8710M that was scheduled to fly to Orlando (MCO) as flight WN2937
• A JetBlue Embraer E190 with the registration code N323JB that was scheduled to fly to Boston (BOS) as flight B61554

VASAviation has an excellent video describing what happened, including both an airport diagram and the air traffic control audio. To summarize:

• The JetBlue Embraer E190 was cleared to taxi into position and hold on Runway 4 by the tower controller
• The Southwest Boeing 737 was then cleared to taxi to Runway 1 by the ground controller, and those instructions included being cleared to cross Runway 4, which is where the JetBlue aircraft was awaiting takeoff clearance
• The JetBlue Embraer E190 was then cleared for takeoff by the tower controller, just shortly before the Southwest Boeing 737 was preparing to cross the runway
• The JetBlue Embraer E190 and Southwest Boeing 737 were then both promptly told to stop, by both a ground and tower controller
• Based on ADS-B data, when the planes stopped, the Southwest Boeing 737 was about 60 meters past the hold short line for the runway, and around 20 meters from the edge of the runway
• The planes stopped at a distance of around 90 meters from one another; for context, a Boeing 737 is around 34 meters long

Following this incident, the Southwest Boeing 737 proceeded to the departure runway and took off. Meanwhile the JetBlue Embraer E190 ended up returning to the gate, and the flight ended up being delayed by hours.

I’m curious what an investigation reveals

This will no doubt be investigated, as this was a pretty close call that could have had a different outcome.

Air traffic controllers have really tough jobs, and they have to be right 100% of the time, or else there could be potentially fatal consequences. Add in how overworked they are, and I can’t help but feel bad for the profession.

As you can hear with the audio, different controllers gave the instructions to the two pilots, and obviously coordination was lacking, leading to this error. Fault lies with the controllers, as the pilots were simply following instructions.

I’m a little confused why the ground controller already cleared the Southwest jet to cross the runway so far in advance, given what a busy airport Washington National is. Is that standard policy at the airport, or did the air traffic controller misspeak, and forgot to say that clearance would be needed to cross the runway?

Here’s another thing I’m curious about, and I’d love to hear from pilots who have a more realistic sense of what you see in the cockpit. Pilots are obviously supposed to be vigilant, especially during ground operations, given how much can go wrong.

The Southwest 737 was crossing the runway around 1,000 feet from the end, where the JetBlue E190 was lined up. With decent visibility, would the Southwest pilots not have seen the JetBlue aircraft starting the takeoff roll, as they prepared to cross the runway? Or due to the angle plus how slowly planes start their takeoff roll, would they not have seen it in that way?

Kudos to all parties involved for their situational awareness, or else this could have had a different ending.

Bottom line

There was a close call at Washington National Airport this morning, as a JetBlue aircraft was cleared for takeoff at the same time that a Southwest aircraft was cleared to cross the same runway. Fortunately the error was caught just in time, and both planes managed to stop. I’m curious what an investigation reveals about how this happened…

What do you make of this incident at DCA?