Federal investigators reported on Thursday that the pilot of a charter jet had taken off without permission, resulting in a near collision with a JetBlue plane that was preparing to land at Boston’s Logan International Airport in February. The incident was captured on video from the JetBlue cockpit, showing the Learjet operated by Hop-A-Jet crossing the runway just in front of the JetBlue plane. The pilots of the JetBlue Embraer jet estimated that they were approximately 30 feet off the ground when they saw the other plane cross in front of them. The captain stated that he could not estimate how close they were to the smaller plane. Fortunately, the JetBlue pilots were able to successfully pull up and circle around before landing safely.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the captain of the Hop-A-Jet claimed to have heard air traffic controllers instructing him to line up and wait before taking off. He even repeated the order back to the controller. However, in his mind, he believed they were cleared for takeoff. The co-pilot, who was operating the Hop-A-Jet plane at the time, stated that the captain had informed him they were cleared to takeoff. In a statement to the safety board, the captain mentioned that he could not understand what had happened to him during the clearance and speculated that the cold temperature in Boston may have affected him, as he was feeling unwell and had a stuffed nose. He apologized for the incident.
After the Hop-A-Jet plane landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, both the captain (age 63) and co-pilot (age 23) were informed by the Boston tower that they had taken off without authorization. The NTSB’s final report stated that the JetBlue plane passed approximately 400 feet above them as it performed a go-around. This incident was one of several close calls earlier this year that prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to hold a safety summit in March, dedicated to finding ways to prevent similar incidents in the future. Hop-A-Jet declined to comment on the incident or the report.
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