Air Traffic Control: JFK near miss

An Aerogal Boeing 767 attempts to land on the wrong runway at New York's JFK airport, nearly colliding with a Jetblue rolling for take off. The tower air traffic controller sorts it out and a collision is averted. Audio from Liveatc.net.

The Aerogal had been cleared for a Parkway Visual Approach (Canarsie Approach) to runway 13L and had subsequently been cleared to land on 13L. The procedure resembles circling procedures such as the legendary Kai Tak IGS to 13, albeit with less drama due to the absence of mountainous terrain.
Once at the Canarsie VOR, planes fly a 041 heading along the Shore Parkway (the main visual reference) and then begin a right turn to either 13R or 13L (typically 13L is used because it is a wider, easier turn). The primary visual aid, especially at night, is provided by clusters of lead-in lights. The first cluster is approximately 2 miles from the threshold of 13R.
When cleared for 13L, pilots begin a slight right turn at the first cluster, then follow two more clusters and initiate a tight right turn to line up with the runway, where the fourth and last cluster of lights is located. This video gives you an idea of what it looks like at night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZXgIVkI8gQ
Now, to line up for 13R, pilots must have initiated a tight right turn at the first cluster to enter a 2 mile final. For the Delta pilots on the ground to spot the mistake, the plane must have been already lined up with 13R, so it could not have been much more than a mile away. By the time Delta warned the tower and the controller issued the go-around, the Aerogal must have been quite close to the threshold.

Un piloto de Aerogal confunde pista 13L por 13R y casi ocasiona un serio accidente.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• ATC
• Air
• Traffic
• control
• JFK
• near
• miss
• accident
• aerogal
• jetblue
• Canarsie
• approach
• New
• York
• collision
• parkway
• visual

[JiS01]

Wait, is that guy the same as the Egyptian guy for the other near miss at /watch?v=Wtlfmvbp2jo ??? I think so, what an idiot OMG

[kenadamsusa]

@JiS01 Absolutely NOT the same pilots involved.

[JiS01]

I think this happens every day, too busy airport just a matter of time for a collission CAN'T be averted!

[kenadamsusa]

@JiS01 This does NOT happen every day.

[fastfiddler1625]

To the guy who mentioned this. The phraseology "Line up and wait" has replaced "position and hold". I don't know why, to me "position and hold" sounds more professional.

[kenadamsusa]

@fastfiddler1625

"Line up and wait" was used worldwide, it made sense for the US to go along and adhere to the same standard. I have also heard that "position and hold" is believed by some to be too similar to "position and go" - which isn't really standard phraseology, but could still be confused by non-native English speakers: I don't know if this second interpretation has any merit - I think the idea was simply to adhere to the worldwide aviation English standard of "Line up and wait".

[Eheld786]

I bet that guy got "the phone number to call"

[babytweeze85]

Why do they title it/call it a "near miss"? It's a near HIT. A COLLISION is a 'near miss'. *BOOM* Oh look, they nearly missed....

[radtech21]

"You make a mistake, you start thinking about the mistake, you begin to make more and more errors. This is a very familiar syndrome. We call it 'checkitis' in aviation." -John Nance

From 37:48 on PBS Nova's "The Deadliest Plane Crash."

[radtech21]

@efastMixer Yeah, I noticed that as well, BIG F* up by the Aerogal pilots but definitely NOT helped by conflicting ATC instructions.

[marchesedesade89]

For people who has in mind hundreds of checklists and who's able to fly a plane, a left or right mistake is HUGE!

[USARMz]

thanks for posting and warning us never to

fly aerogal xD

[tiverton]

The nicer you are to New Yorkers the more they will be rude to you. You have talk to them the same aggressive way as they talk to you from the start, then they treat you with respect. JFK, and entire New York Approach for that matter, are no different.

[nim154]

How much ATController average salary at such airport? Job seems to be a little bit stressful.

[mariodela]

I feel bad for this guy, in the airport im training a private pilot lost his license because he crossed the line! he was told to hold short runway 13 and he crossed it, so i dont know what happened to this guy, i guess he lost his license or at least he got grounded, you can't mistake runways like that, anyway this pilots were flying an old 767 from ecuador. Any pilot that flies that 767 for about 8 hours has to be really tired at the end, he was really scared the atc wasn't helping the guy :(

[pacidessi]

I would have made a left turn towards the tower, dumped some fuel on it, passed over it a second time in order to ignite it with the hot exhaust. Seriously, in other countries this controller would have gotten help, in some forced. Pilots and controllers make mistakes, no need to loose temperament, makes things worse. It distracts, in this example the pilot overshot the assigned altitude.

[ProPainC63]

Welcome to NY bitch.