FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Two planes came within 100 hundred feet of colliding at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after one missed its turn onto a taxiway and entered the runway where the other was about to land, federal authorities said. Air traffic controllers noticed a plane entering a runway Wednesday as Delta Flight 1489 approached the same runway for a landing, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Kathleen Bergen said.
The controllers alerted the Delta crew to pull up and circle the airport to avoid United Flight 1544, which had missed a turn onto another taxiway, Bergen said.
Investigators were focusing on what caused the United flight to veer into Delta’s right of way, Bergen said.
Spokeswomen for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. and Chicago-based UAL Corp. s United Airlines did not immediately return messages Thursday seeking comment.
The near-miss, or “runway incursion” in FAA (website/news) terminology, is under investigation, Bergen said.
The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport had three runway incursions during the 12 months that ended May 31, according to FAA records. Two were blamed on pilot error and the third was ruled an air traffic control error. Nationwide, the FAA reported 330 runway incursions in fiscal year 2006.
Wonder if it was the taxiway Delta to Bravo transition or maybe the rwy 13/31 to Bravo…they use that rwy as a taxiway sometimes to have another place to line them up. I’ve heard a controller yell at someone before for almost missing the Delta to Bravo transition. They don’t tolerate mistakes or inattention at FLL very well. It’s just too busy of a place…
I remember an old skit on Saturday Night Live - they did one of those fake commercials advertising a record called “Greatest Hits and Near Misses”. They were scrolling various titles up the screen and saying You’ll hear such hits such as “Oh SH…” and “Holy SH…” and near misses like, “Where did THAT guy come from?” and “Go Around, Go Around”. I wish I could remember all of them. It was one of the funnier things I’ve seen on SNL over the years.
I flew into FLL recently and when we landed, our 757 seemed to carry over the (excuse my lack of memory of the proper term and I fully expect this to be quoted and replied to lol so thank you in advance) big painted line recommending the point of wheels down, and it almost felt as if a “breeze” carried us a little further than expected down the runway before we touched down. I thought it was all in my head until the pilot tried to stop the plane.
The brakes and reverse thrust were so powerful that it threw me forward against the seatbelt much harder than usual and my upper body was held forward towards the seat in front of me for quite some time. As I do everywhere I go, I was snapping photos and in the photo you can see how the horizon is crooked because I was thrown forward while taking it. So big deal, he slammed the brakes. But this was a first for me in that the force pushing me forwarding continued around the corner onto the taxiway, well off the runway!! I had to hold on to something going around the corner and never had to do that on a 757 before. Flaps were still fully extended downward after completing the turnoff as well. I can see how we would have “missed the turn off” in that case. I’m surprised we didn’t. Don’t have the photo handy at the moment but if you’re curious, I can dig it up.
My point lol - is there maybe a wind pattern off the water there at FLL that can surprise the pilot with a last minute lift in the last several feet?
On the other note, I love Carlin’s routine called STUFF – about traveling from your box to a box somewhere else, and you take some of the stuff from your larger box and put it into a smaller box. When you arrive, you take some of the stuff out of our smaller box and put it in an even smaller box (backpack, fanny pack, beach bag, etc.) and carry it to a different smaller box, etc. etc. I think that’s the routine that ends with the term “smitherines” so I won’t go there.
There are many reasons that the airplane decelerated at what you felt was an abnormal rate; but I don’t think the description sounds that unusual. I also don’t think that FLL has any particularly unusual wind patterns either (call Agent Moulder!). I mean…it’s Florida…It’s flat. Maybe in this instance there was a little gust factor involved, but it sounds like a normal landing to me.
I didn’t note anything falling on anyone’s head or anything breaking in that landing description. Back in the days when airlines had stuff that could break, it happened alot.
The worst single accident in aviation history was a runway incursion in Tenerife.
The NTSB has a very interesting video/animation on their website detailing a bad runway incursion during low visibility at Providence, RI (KPVD) back in 1999 I beleive. If someone can find an older airport diagram it is very helpful to figure out what is going on and follow along. (the new layout is different, the 5L/23R is now a taxiway and Kilo taxiway is no longer.) The United flight says 23R half of the time and 23L the other half. Kudos to the UsAir flight that does not accept the takeoff instructions…TWICE…until they figure out what is going on.
Tower lady is a real bitch. Hope she got fired for this. NTSB animation…who the hell uses realplayer these days?
Saw this video on youtube friday, and think it is the incident to which you refer. A confused pilot and a controller certain she knows what is going on, even though she can’t see anything. The video has a animated diagram of the aiprot and aircraft timed with ATC audio.
I saw it in class one time, and the resolution was much better than the animation from the ntsb site. Plus, it had an airport diagram that showed the positions of the aircraft on the field. I’ll try to find that one somewhere.
James, I’m not a pilot so I haven’t experienced many extremes, however, as a passenger, I can promise you that the strength of the force against the passengers on my plane was not “normal.” I’ve flown commercially quite a bit and I almost had a smile on my face I was thrown so hard against my seatbelt and the seat in front of me lol (simply because I appreciate what the commercial jets are actually capable of handling), especially since it occurred even after we turned off to taxi. It was from this very website that I learned about the recommended landing point (indicated by the paint line) and we well passed it b4 touching down. Sorry about the “lol”. But I really appreciate the expert comments and explanations assuring me and readers that nothing extraordinary was happening. I just posted my story because out of all the flights I’ve had, I could relate to running out of runway at this very airport. Thanks for your replies.
Interested in finding out more about the incursion at PVD from the videos above, I looked for and found this The ASRS Report, with statements by the FO and the CAPT of UA 1448, as well as the crew of US 2994.
… Hmmmm… How about a near “mess”, rather than a mess 