An Alaska Airlines airplane aborted takeoff at Tennessee’s Nashville International Airport on Thursday (Sep 12) to avoid a potential collision with a Southwest Airlines jet, the airlines and authorities said.
Alaska Airlines 369, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplane with 176 passengers and six crew on board, aborted its takeoff around 9.15am local time after it had received clearance from air traffic control, Alaska said.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters the board was investigating. “We are clearly very concerned about this (incident) and others we are investigating,” Homendy said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was also investigating the incident, where Southwest Airlines Flight 2029 – a Boeing 737-700 – that was scheduled to depart for Jacksonville, Florida, had been cleared to cross the end of the same runway.
The Alaska pilots immediately applied the brakes to prevent the incident from escalating, the carrier added. The plane had been scheduled to fly to Seattle, Washington, and passengers were being moved to a new plane.
The FAA and Alaska said the 737 MAX 9’s tyres were blown during braking. Tracking website Flightradar24 said the Alaska plane was travelling at 193kmh on the runway before slowing.
Southwest said it was in contact with the NTSB and FAA and would participate in the investigation. Alaska said maintenance technicians in Nashville were inspecting the aircraft.
The FAA said in April it would install new surface awareness technology at four airports including Nashville by July.
Homendy said it is unclear if that technology has been installed and if it is currently operating. “Was it online on that runway,” Homendy said. “Did warnings go off?”
The FAA declined to comment on whether the technology was operating.
Source: CNA
