A close call between a chartered jet and a JetBlue flight at Logan Airport in Boston last February was a near run thing indeed, according to the final report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
A JetBlue Embraer ERJ 190 was coming in for a landing from Nashville International Airport to Logan Airport in Boston on February 27 when the flight crew received an alert from their ground detection alarms. Just 400 feet below the commercial flight, a chartered Lear 60 jet run by a company called Hop-A-Jet had just taken off without permission from air traffic control. The photo above shows just how close the two airplanes came.
The JetBlue flight received a “go-around” order and landed safely after avoiding the Lear jet. That crew was alerted they had taken off without permission when the plane landed in Fort Lauderdale hours later. The pilot in the Lear jet claims he was certain they had clearance for take off, according to the NTSB report.
MIT Aeronautics & Astronautics Professor John Hansman told CBS how vital these safety systems are when fallible humans are behind the yoke:
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