‘CANCEL TAKEOFF PLANS!’

Air Traffic Control Audio Captures Panic as Passenger Jets Nearly Collide at JFK

The planes avoided disaster by just 1,000 feet.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Travel Safety Board are investigating after two commercial airplanes nearly collided at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday. A Delta Air Lines flight was taking off around 8:45 p.m. Friday evening when air traffic controllers noticed an American Airlines flight crossing the same runway. The Delta flight managed to stop about 1,000 feet from the American Airlines jet, according to an initial FAA analysis, averting disaster by the skin of its teeth. Flight watcher @xJonNYC tweeted air traffic control audio of the exchange in which someone can be heard saying, “Shit! Delta 1943 cancel takeoff plans! Delta 1943 cancel takeoff plans!” The Delta flight, bound for the Dominican Republic, had to return to the gate, deplane, and be rescheduled to the next morning, according to CNBC.