Investigators detail how an American Airlines jet crossed a runway in front of a Delta plane at JFK

The pilots of an American Airlines plane taxied around the fallacious runway remaining 12 months in New York — into the trail of every other jetliner that used to be starting off — after the captain was distracted and perplexed about takeoff directions and the co-pilot misplaced observe of their plane’s location, consistent with paperwork launched Monday.

Disaster used to be prevented as a result of an air site visitors controller — the use of an expletive — shouted at pilots of the opposite plane, a Delta Air Lines flight, to abort their takeoff.

The National Transportation Safety Board launched paperwork associated with its investigation of the Jan. 13, 2023, incident at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The investigation is continuous, and the board mentioned it has no longer but decided a possible purpose for the shut name.

The middle of the night incident used to be among several close calls at U.S. airports that alarmed the general public and lawmakers and led the Federal Aviation Administration to carry a “safety summit” last year.

The pilots of the London-bound American Airlines Boeing 777 took a wrong turn on a taxiway alongside two perpendicular runways. The crew had first planned for a takeoff from runway 31L. However, they later got instructions from a controller and a message on their cockpit computer telling them to taxi across 31L and take off from runway 4L.

In later interviews, “all three pilots (on the American Airlines plane) said they understood at that time that (the flight) would be departing runway 4L,” consistent with the NTSB.

Instead, they crossed 4L just as a Delta Boeing 737 began its takeoff roll down the same runway.

The captain, Michael Graber, said that as the plane crossed the middle of runway 4L, he saw red runway lights turn on — the lights warn pilots when it’s not safe to be on the runway.

“All of a sudden I saw that red glow and I just — right away I said something — that ain’t right,” he told investigators. “I didn’t know what was happening, but I was thinking something’s wrong.”

The captain added power to speed across.

Graber told investigators that he heard and understood the directions from the controller but got distracted by a heavy workload and, in his mind, might have gone back to thinking they were taking off from the other runway.

The co-pilot, Traci Gonzalez, said she knew the entire time that they were supposed to cross runway 31L, “but she was unaware of the airplane’s position when the captain taxied onto runway 4L,” investigators wrote. “She knew they were approaching a runway, but she did not realize they were approaching runway 4L.”

The co-pilot also blamed distractions, including an unusually high number of weather alerts.

The third person in the cockpit, Jeffrey Wagner, a relief pilot for the long international flight, said he was “heads down” and didn’t know where the plane was as it taxied on to the runway. He said that when they crossed the wrong runway and he saw a plane to his right, he initially thought it might be taxiing behind them.

The Delta pilots, warned by the air traffic controller, were able to brake to a stop. The planes were never closer than about 1,000 feet (300 meters) apart — not a comforting margin in aviation-safety terms.

A controller warned the American crew about a “possible pilot deviation,” and gave them a telephone quantity to name, which the captain did. After a lengthen, they took off for London — this time on runway 31L. The staff didn’t document the incident to American Airlines earlier than starting off.

The cockpit voice recording from within the American plane used to be taped over right through the six-hour flight to London and misplaced endlessly.

Investigators mentioned they attempted a number of occasions to interview the American pilots, however the pilots refused on recommendation of their union, which objected to the NTSB recording the interviews. The NTSB then took the extremely ordinary step of issuing a subpoena to compel the staff contributors to sit down for recorded interviews.

The pilots’ union, the Allied Pilots Association, had no instant remark Monday at the NTSB paperwork.

The document renewed suggestions that the Federal Aviation Administration require higher preservation of cockpit voice recordings. They run on loops that normally tape over outdated sounds after two hours. The FAA finally bowed to NTSB pressure past due remaining 12 months, pronouncing that it could suggest that recordings no longer be overwritten for 25 hours — however most effective on new planes.