Boeing 737 Max plane bursts tire, brakes hard to avoid collision with other plane during takeoff
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max aborted a takeoff at Nashville International Airport on Thursday to avoid hitting a Southwest flight that had been given clearance to taxi across the runway by mistake. The force of the impact on the wheel during The brakes blew out the tire of the Alaska plane. The 78-ton plane reached 120 miles per hour before its aborted takeoff. The incident occurred despite Nashville being one of four airports reported to be equipped with FAA’s latest runway safety technology.
The near miss It does not appear to have been the result of error on the part of either crew. Air traffic control allowed Southwest Airlines Flight 2029 to overshoot the runway as the plane prepared to take off for Jacksonville, according to NBC News. Despite the blown tire, the grounded plane left the runway but did not return to the terminal. Alaska Airlines sent a replacement plane to carry all 176 passengers on board to Seattle the same day, along with refunds and an additional $1,000.
Southwest Airlines has joined in a similar incident at Regan National Airport in Washington, DC earlier this year. Air traffic control allowed a Southwest plane to cross the runway as a JetBlue flight was taking off, and the two planes came within 400 feet of each other. Both near misses are symptomatic of the current air traffic controller shortage.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the near miss in Nashville. In April, the agency announced that new surface recognition technology would be installed at four airports by July to help overworked controller and improve safety, Reuters reported. The FAA declined to comment on whether the system was operational at the time of the incident.
