A planeload of New York-bound passengers had a close call Thursday morning when a Southwest jet nearly took off from a taxiway at the Orlando International Airport.
According to reports, Southwest Flight 3278 to Albany received a takeoff clearance from the airfield’s control tower to take off on runway 17R. Rather than turning onto the runway, the jet’s crew turned onto a parallel taxiway and began accelerating. Fortunately, an alert controller in the tower saw the error and frantically instructed the pilots to stop over the radio. The aircraft’s crew immediately complied and safely brought the plane to a halt.
Following the 9:30 AM incident, the aircraft was ordered back to the gate, where passengers were put on another plane with a new crew.
A screenshot from Flightradar 24 shows SWA 3278 accelerating down a taxiway adjacent to runway 17R at Orlando International Airport Thursday morning. Unconfirmed data shows that the plane may have reached a speed of 69 knots before aborting the takeoff.
According to an FAA statement on the incident, “An air traffic controller at Orlando International Airport canceled the takeoff clearance for Southwest Airlines Flight 3278 around 9:30 a.m. local time on Thursday, March 20, after the aircraft began its takeoff roll on a taxiway. The taxiway runs parallel to the runway. The flight was headed to Albany International Airport in New York. No other aircraft were involved. The FAA is investigating.”
A Southwest airlines spokesman said the crew “mistook the surface for the nearby runway”. The spokesman went on to say “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees. ” No injuries were reported by the airline.
Taxiway markings and signage are significantly different from those on runways, raising questions about how the flight crew could have mistaken a taxiway for a runway. Additionally, airline crews generally have access to “moving maps” that show their exact position on the airport.
The question of airline and air traffic control safety has been at the forefront of the news lately following a series of high-profile crashes and incidents over the last 6 months.
