Unauthorized Takeoff: Private Jet’s Close Call with JetBlue Flight Sparks NTSB Investigation

In the final report published on Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board stated that the pilot of a charter jet took off with no permission from Boston Logan International Airport earlier this year, resulting in a conflict with a JetBlue flight that had consent to land on an intersecting runway. JetBlue cockpit video captured the instant the Hop-A-Jet aircraft crossed the runway directly in front of the flight on February 27, with a screen capture illustrating the incident. 

The tower controller at Boston instructed the pilot of the charter flight to position up and wait on the runway until JetBlue Flight 206 was given permission to land. According to the report, the flight crew of HPJ280 reported back the controller’s instructions to position up and patiently wait instead they launched the takeoff roll. The airport’s surface detection equipment, model X (ASDE-X), signaled a warning, and the controller issued go-around orders to JBU206 instantly.

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Close Call at the Intersection: JetBlue Flight’s Go-Around near Hop-A-Jet’s Departure

The JetBlue flight initiated a go-around prior to reaching the point of intersection, and the closest distance between the two aircraft occurred when the JetBlue flight was approximately 30 feet above the ground and near the intersection of both runways. A goaround is a flight process in which an approaching aircraft abandons its landing procedure and is rescheduled to land.The captain of Hop-A-Jet reported hearing air traffic controllers instruct him to line up and wait prior to departure. 

According to the NTSB, he stated that he responded to the clearance, but in his thoughts, they were approved for takeoff. At 6:55 the time in their area, they departed, and during cruise, air traffic controllers sent them a message with a contact number to call upon landing. After arriving at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport in Florida, where Hop-A-Jet’s headquarters is situated, the Boston tower reported to them that they had gone off without authorization, resulting in the JetBlue aircraft that was originally cleared to land to carry out a go-around and pass roughly 400 feet ahead of them. The Hop-A-Jet aircraft was piloted by the 23-year-old co-pilot, who told authorities that his commander gave the order to take off.

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Source: New York Post, Fox Business