The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a close call between American Airlines and Delta Air Lines aircraft on Saturday morning at Boston Logan International Airport.
Runway Conflict
At 11:30 a.m., Delta pilots executed a go-around as an American Airlines flight accelerated for takeoff on an intersecting runway.
Delta’s crew received a “potential traffic” advisory through the aircraft’s onboard system. The airline’s spokesperson said its aircraft are equipped with technology that warns pilots of potential collisions with other aircraft.
According to Delta’s spokesperson, the crew of Delta Air Lines Flight 2351 coordinated with air traffic control to perform a go-around. An air traffic controller asked the American Airlines flight where it was headed. The pilot said the flight had been cleared for takeoff by the tower.
The Delta aircraft had 129 passengers and six crew members on board. The aircraft landed safely and passengers deplaned normally, according to the spokesperson. The investigation is ongoing.
The two aircraft were within several hundred feet of each other, according to a CNN analysis of tracking data from Flightradar24.
American Airlines and the airport referred comments to the FAA.
According to the FAA, a go-around, or aborted landing, is a safe, routine procedure performed at the discretion of pilots or air traffic controllers.
Aviation-Related Accidents
The close call follows several aviation-related accidents in recent days.
Claude Guillemot, co-founder of Ubisoft, was killed in a plane crash in western France on Saturday. Earlier this week, a small jet crashed in Laredo, Texas, killing one person on board.
Last Monday, a B-52 crashed during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The incident killed eight people on board.
Last Sunday, 12 people died when a plane crashed during a skydiving excursion in Missouri.
The FAA has spent nearly $4 million on an AI system developed with Palantir Technologies to analyze large volumes of data and help reduce runway close calls.
