A plane had to quickly abort its takeoff Monday afternoon at Boston Logan International Airport after an air traffic controller noticed another aircraft approaching too close.
"It's like you just got a major jolt forward," Cosmo Rowell, one of the passengers on the flight, told NBC10 Boston. "The emergency brakes were so tight that all you heard was the squealing of the tires."
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The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that the controller canceled the takeoff clearance for an American Airlines Boeing 737 "out of an abundance of caution" after they saw Spirit Airlines Flight 1444 coming too close to the runway hold line.
Runway holding markings identify locations on runways where aircraft must stop unless explicitly authorized to cross by air traffic control, according to the FAA's website. The holding position markings are placed on runways prior to the intersection with another runway, or some designated point.
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American Airlines confirmed Flight 1457, from Boston to Chicago, returned to the gate at Logan prior to its departure due to the aborted takeoff. The plane later departed for Chicago O'Hare International Airport at 2:38 p.m.
"The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority," the airline said in a statement to NBC10 Boston. "We apologize for the delay in our customer’s travel plans."
Officials have not said exactly how close the planes were in proximity to each other during the incident that occurred around 12:50 p.m. The FAA said it is investigating what happened.
"The really scary thing about it is you can't see the pilots. You know you can only see to the side of you. You know so it gives you anxiety because you don't know if you're about to run into another plane or about to run into something else or if you have enough runway," Rowell, a traveling nurse, said.
"It could've been more serious than it was. I'm grateful it wasn't that serious and everyone is OK. But the fact that this is not the first time this has happened and the fact that it seems to happen kind of often compared to other airports, that is concerning to me as a frequent flyer," he added.
And this isn't the first close call on the runway this year. In February, investigators found the pilot of a charter jet took off without permission, leading to a near-miss with a JetBlue plane that was preparing to land.
