The Federal Aviation Administration opened an investigation into a near collision between two planes taking off from Chicago’s Midway Airport at the same time earlier this week.
Reuters reports that a Delta Air Lines flight and a Southwest Airlines flight stopped roughly 2,000 feet from hitting each other on intersecting runways at the airport on Tuesday evening.
The FAA says in a statement that the Southwest plane bound for Tulsa, OK, had been cleared for takeoff on one runway, when air traffic controllers noticed that the Delta aircraft, bound for Atlanta, was taxing on another runway without proper clearance.
Upon realizing the potentially dangerous situation, the Delta crew was told to immediately stop its progress down the runway. The Southwest flight also came to a stop.
The FAA says that when the planes came to a rest they were about 2,000 feet from the area where the runways intersect.
Spokespeople for both airlines tell Reuters that they are cooperating with the FAA investigation into the incident.
Two jets rolled at each other on takeoff in Chicago -officials [Reuters]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
No comments:
Post a Comment