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…
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?
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