Federal investigators have determined a near collision between planes at Logan Airport this winter was the result of pilot error. While no one was hurt, the incident does raise questions about safety at the nation’s airports.
The close call could be seen from the cockpit of a JetBlue plane in February, a screen capture from video left in the NTSB report for public review, when a Lear jet crossed the runway as the bigger one was preparing to land at Logan.
”All pilots from time to time make mistakes," explained John Hansman, a professor of aeronautics at MIT.
Disaster was averted in because the JetBlue pilot was alerted, pulled up and landed safely. The NTSB’s final report blames the crew of the smaller plane, saying the Learjet took off without clearance.
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”I actually think we should look at this as an example of the system working.”
There’s been a recent spate of close calls, or incursions, around the country. Some aren’t as serious as others, like an incident in June at Logan when one plane clipped the wing of another.
Looking at airports comparable to Logan over the last year and a half, NBC10 Boston found Boston had more than twice as many incursions as Atlanta, the country’s busiest airport.
"The runways at Logan cross, in this case they were intersecting runways.”
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Hansman says Boston can be a tricky place for pilots.
"Logan is a more difficult airport than some, but again well-managed as far as I can tell.”
This spring, the FAA created a safety review team because of several near collisions, including the one here in Boston. Steve Cunningham teaches people how to fly. He says runaway incursions have been getting a lot of attention in recent years.
”There’s been an awful lot of work and training going on to prevent to prevent these things from happening. They used to happen much more frequently than this.”
The incident here in February was clearly pilot error, but Massport notes they do take incursion seriously with attention to technology, training and proper lights.
