NTSB: Interruptions, Multitasking Cause of JFK Near Collision

The incident prompted a call from the safety agency for cockpit voice recorders to be required to cover the last 25 hours of audio instead of two hours.

Thursday, June 06, 2024 at 01:35 PM ET

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The taxi paths of the American B-777 (orange, terminal through taxiway J) and the Delta B-737 (blue, taxiway K and Runway 4L), based on ADS-B data, with times annotated at select locations. Satellite image annotated by NTSB. [Courtesy: NTSB]

Key Takeaways:

A Boeing 777 crew, distracted by multitasking and confusion, mistakenly crossed an active runway at JFK, nearly colliding with a taking-off Boeing 737.
The NTSB investigation revealed contributing factors included the flight crew's lack of external visual attention and air traffic control errors due to distractions and insufficient airport environment scanning.
NTSB recommendations emphasize improving flight crew communication (e.g., verbalizing runway numbers), developing enhanced alert systems for crews, and extending cockpit voice recorder (CVR) duration to 25 hours.

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Interruptions and multitasking resulted in distractions that caused a Boeing 777 crew to cross a runway and nearly collide with a Boeing 737 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) in New York last year, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

In a preliminary report released Tuesday detailing the January 2023 near collision, NTSB said confusion on the part of the crew of a London-bound Boeing 777 led to mistakenly crossing a runway occupied by the Delta Airlines 737 that had been given clearance for takeoff. The aircraft came within 1,000 feet of each other.

Meg Godlewski

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.