"Near-collision occurs at Boston airport"

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Second near-collision at Logan in just over a week
The Associated Press


BOSTON --Two jets crossed paths on the runways at Logan International
Airport, forcing one of them to abort its takeoff, marking the second such
incident in just over a week and 16th since last October.

An American Airlines airliner was rolling down the runway on Tuesday, moving
into position for takeoff, when an American Eagle regional jet that had had
just landed crossed the runway, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman
Jim Peters said.

Peters could not say how close the planes had come to colliding, but The
Boston Globe quoted an aviation source familiar with the investigation
saying the two planes came within 1,000 feet of each other.

The airliner's clearance for takeoff was canceled, and the Federal Aviation
Administration is investigating whether air traffic controllers or the pilot
of the American Eagle plane was at fault.

Peters did not know how many people were on each plane involved in Tuesday's
incident.

Officials say they have found no link between the 16 runway incursions since
October 2004, though they have cited Logan's five cramped, intersecting
runways as a reason why the incidents occur with such frequency at Logan.

On Sept. 27, a FedEx cargo jet that had just started its takeoff came within
2,000 feet of a twin-propeller plane crossing the same runway.

In the most serious incident, on June 9, an Aer Lingus Airbus A330 and a US
Airways Boeing 737, carrying a combined 381 passengers and crew, came within
170 feet and a few seconds of colliding as both were taking off. FAA
officials blamed errors by two air traffic controllers, both of whom were
suspended and sent for retraining.

Most of the other runway incidents at Logan were categorized as unlikely to
have resulted in a collision.

Craig P. Coy, chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority,
which runs Logan, recently asked federal officials to punish controllers
involved in runway incursions by revoking or suspending their licenses.

The nation's 17th busiest airport with 1,250 daily arrivals and departures,
Logan was the departure point for the two planes terrorists crashed into New
York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.


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