JetBlue has scare at Logan Airport

BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - FOX25 has obtained Air Traffic recordings from a close call at Logan Airport on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

JetBlue Flight 1264 had just flown to Boston from Austin, TX on the night before Thanksgiving. The plane, carrying 91 passengers, was supposed to go left while taxiing to the gate but instead it went right. That put it dangerously close to a runway where a plane was about to take off.

A quick-thinking Air Traffic Controller ordered Flight 1264 to stop and may have saved hundreds of lives.

Matt McCluskey, president of the Boston air traffic controllers union , tells FOX25 “It’s 32 years of experience for this Air Traffic Controller. He’s in the twilight of his career and he made a great save.”

In statement provided to FOX25, JetBlue says “At no time did the flight enter an active runway without clearance from ATC. The Captain awaited further instructions from ATC and was subsequently cleared to taxi to the gate. The processes put in place by the airline, the pilots and ATC are designed to prevent and mitigate inadvertent errors. The system worked.”

It is very likely the passengers on Flight 1264 were unaware the pilot made a wrong turn. But, there is no way they could have missed the other JetBlue flight taking off right in front of them.

Because the plane did not actually go across the runway, the FAA does not consider this incident a runway incursion .

McCluskey tells FOX25 events like this are uncommon, but it does happen.

Originally posted on MyFoxBoston.com