Close call

More news on last week's runway incursion.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A Delta jet that was involved in a near collision on an airport runway had already landed when controllers ordered it to take off again to avoid a United plane in its path, federal investigators said.

Officials have said the two planes came within 100 feet of colliding on July 11 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Initially, the Federal Aviation Administration said the Delta jet was still approaching the runway when it was told to pull up.

The FAA has said the United Airlines plane missed a turn onto a taxiway and ended up on the same runway. The National Transportation Safety Board, in a report released late last week, quoted from the air traffic controllers.

"UAL 1544 stop, stop, stop," a controller urged the United plane, but it continued rolling into the runway, the NTSB report stated.

The Delta jet's landing gear was already on the ground when controllers warned the pilots about the United plane. The NTSB report said the Delta crew "noted the urgency in the controller's voice so they knew they had to get the aircraft airborne."

That the Delta plane had touched down, hadn't been noted in previous news reports. I'd love to see the NTSB's report, but it hasn't been posted to their website yet.

Bottom line- We were lucky last week. Now will air traffic controllers in Fort Lauderdale learn from this mistake or is a catastrophe just waiting to happen? Four runway incursions in a little over a year is still troubling to me.

Linked to- Big Dog, Pursuing Holiness, Webloggin, Yankee Sailor,