A miscommunication in the air nearly led to a runway crash in Colorado last year — but tragedy was averted after a last-minute maneuver by a JetBlue pilot that damaged the plane but caused no injuries.
“I hope you didn’t hit us,” the captain of the Beechcraft B300 King Air said mid-air as it touched down on runway 10 at Yampa Valley Airport — where a JetBlue Airbus A320 was preparing to take off. according to the report of the National Transit Safety Board published this week.
The report of the near disaster comes at the conclusion of a nearly two-year investigation by the NTSB into the January 22, 2022 incident, in which JetBlue Airways flight 1748 sustained major damage in a tail strike avoiding a collision.
The rear of the JetBlue plane slammed into the ground as it increased thrust and took off steeply from the runway as the King Air plane came within 2.2 nautical miles of the airport, the video shows, Fox Business reported.
Video shows the tail of a JetBlue plane hitting the ground while trying to take off quickly. FOX Business
Both planes had been coordinating with the Denver air traffic control center (ARTCC) for their flight plans, as the Yampa Valley airport does not have its own air traffic control, the report found.
The Universal Communications Frequency Operator (UNICOM) warned both aircraft of “various aircraft” in the skies around the airport.
However, JetBlue believed the King Air was further away, about “8 or 9 miles,” and would land on runway 10 behind them and decided to proceed with takeoff.
In communications, King Air mentioned both “runway 10” and “runway 28” – but the plane was actually intended to land on the runway in front of JetBlue.
“Approximately 20 seconds after JetBlue began takeoff on runway 10, the King Air flight crew asked JetBlue if they were going to make a quick turn, and they replied, ‘yes sir,'” the NTSB report said.
A communication breakdown caused a near collision between planes in Colorado last year, the NTSB found. NTSB/X Newsroom
“Concurrent with this conversation, the JetBlue captain raised the aircraft, 24 knots ahead of spin speed, to avoid the approaching King Air and subsequently struck the tail of the aircraft on the runway surface,” the agency said.
The report found that the captain raised the plane’s nose faster than usual “because of his surprise about encountering direct landing traffic.”
The JetBlue plane took off then quickly turned right in the air out of the way of traffic.
After the tail strike, the JetBlue crew continued the takeoff to Fort Lauderdale Florida before finally confirming the incident at around 16,000 feet.
After climbing about another 10,000 feet, they were ordered to land immediately so the plane could be inspected for damage, and diverted to Denver.
The plane sustained “extensive” damage and no injuries were reported.
The NTSB determined the incident was the result of poor communication.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
