As this is written in late February 2023, U.S. aviation is taking stock of the remarkable safety record it has achieved over the last several years at the same time it’s wondering how the heck there have been two big-deal near-collisions of jet transports since the first of the year.
On January 13, an American Airlines Boeing 777 taxied across a runway at JFK in front of a departing Delta Air Lines Boeing 737. No paint was swapped. On February 4, a Southwest Airlines 737 apparently took off underneath a Federal Express Boeing 767 as it went around in low IFR conditions. That was in Austin, Texas. There have been other close calls, but these two got widespread attention, in part because they involved air traffic control as well as pilot error.
