We’ve seen a concerning number of close calls at airports lately. In some cases they’re due to mistakes by pilots, while in other cases they’re due to mistakes by air traffic controllers. Here’s an especially bad incident involving the latter…
Breakdown in ATC communication leads to close call
This incident happened at around 4:45PM local time on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at New York Kennedy Airport (JFK). The details of this are pretty straightforward, they’re just kind of shocking:
- The tower controller on one frequency cleared SWISS flight LX17 for takeoff on runway 4L
- At the same time, the ground controller on another frequency cleared four different jets to cross runway 4L at the same time on various intersections — this included Delta flight DL29, American flight AA2246, Brickyard flight YX5752, and Delta flight DL420
- Fortunately the SWISS pilots saw the traffic on the runway, and aborted their takeoff at a low speed; the SWISS plane taxied off the runway, and then minutes later took off successfully
Below you can see a VASAviation video that depicts the movement of planes, and also shares air traffic control audio. Just keep in mind that the below video provides the audio from two separate frequencies, so the SWISS pilots wouldn’t have heard the clearance other planes had to cross the runway, and vice versa.
It’s noteworthy how calm everyone remains, and there’s no acknowledgement of the error that was made. Often if one party was clearly in the wrong, we’ll hear some raised voices and yelling, but that wasn’t the case here (I’m not saying that’s how it should be, but it often is).
This seems like such an avoidable mistake
Let me start by acknowledging that air traffic controllers have tough jobs — they’re overworked, and there’s a lot of pressure on them to always be right, given the importance of their jobs.
In this case, there was just clearly a breakdown in communication. How can it be that a controller on one frequency is clearing a plane for takeoff, while a controller on another frequency is clearing four planes to cross the same runway at the same time? Obviously one would assume there’s coordination between these controllers, so what went wrong that this didn’t happen here?
A few thoughts come to mind:
- You’d think that something like this could be prevented through basic technology, whereby when one controller gives an instruction involving an active runway, there’s some flashing light or prompt that makes it obvious for another controller not to give instructions involving that same runway
- A couple of months ago, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) published recommendations on how to prevent runway incursions, and one of those recommendations was to “use a common frequency for runway operations (to increase situational awareness of pilots, drivers, ATCOs),” and that would have likely prevented this from happening
- The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducts the International Aviation Safety Assessment Program that determines whether countries have a Category 1 rating, based on a particular government’s oversight of aviation; I can’t help but think that if another country had this frequency of errors, it might get more scrutiny from officials in the United States
Bottom line
A breakdown in communication between air traffic controllers at JFK caused a near disaster, as a SWISS jet was cleared for takeoff, while four other planes were cleared to cross the same runway. Fortunately the SWISS pilots figured out what was going on, and aborted their takeoff.
Of course mistakes happen, but the frequency of errors is becoming increasingly problematic, as this came a day before a similar incident at Washington National Airport.
What do you make of this JFK ATC incident?
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