Delta aircraft at JFK
Friday the 13th may not have been the best day to fly to Santo Domingo.
Delta Flight 1943 aircraft, which was about to take off for that destination, had a near-miss with a taxiing American Airlines Boeing 777, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said.
The incident took place at approximately 8:45 p.m. local time.
The Boeing 737-900 had 145 passengers and six crew members on board, the airline said. The aircraft ultimately returned to the gate due to staffing issues and crew timeouts. The flight finally left Saturday morning, and Delta said it provided passengers with a complimentary hotel stay.
Air traffic controllers “noticed another aircraft crossing the runway in front of the departing jetliner,” the FAA said in a statement. “According to a preliminary analysis, Delta Air Lines Flight 1943 stopped its takeoff roll approximately 1,000 feet (305 m) before reaching the point where American Airlines Flight 106, a Boeing 777, had crossed from an adjacent taxiway.”
“The safety of our customers and crew is always Delta’s number one priority,” Delta said in a statement to FBT and The Travelist. The Atlanta-based carrier said that it will cooperate with the National Transportation Safety Board with its investigation.
Meanwhile, American Airlines Flight 106, with a destination of London Heathrow Airport, took off on time Friday night at 9:18 p.m. and arrived on time at 8:13 a.m. local time in London the following morning.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
