Federal aviation investigators are examining a close call between two commercial aircraft at Boston Logan International Airport after a Delta Air Lines jet was forced to abort its landing approach Saturday morning when an American Airlines flight was accelerating for takeoff on an intersecting runway.
The incident unfolded around 11:30 a.m. when Delta Air Lines Flight 2351 broke off its landing approach and executed a go-around maneuver. At nearly the same moment, American Airlines Flight 3161 was picking up speed for departure on a runway that crossed the Delta aircraft’s flight path. The two planes came within several hundred feet of each other before the situation was resolved.
The Delta Airbus A319 completed the go-around without incident and ultimately landed safely. Passengers were able to deplane normally following the landing, and no injuries were reported.
What the Recordings Reveal
Air traffic control communications from the incident captured a controller asking the departing American Airlines crew where the aircraft was headed — an apparent signal that the controller was concerned about the flight’s position. The American Airlines pilot responded that the tower had issued a takeoff clearance. American Airlines subsequently directed media inquiries to the Federal Aviation Administration, which has opened a formal investigation into the event.
The FAA has not yet released details about whether air traffic control instructions were misunderstood, whether a clearance was issued in error, or what sequence of events led to both aircraft converging on the same airspace simultaneously.
Pilots Train for Exactly This Scenario
Aviation safety experts note that while the situation is alarming from a passenger perspective, commercial pilots are trained to handle aborted landings as a routine emergency procedure. Michael McCormick, an aviation expert, explained that passengers are given no warning before a go-around is executed, but they will notice it immediately as the aircraft stops descending and climbs back into the sky.
“Passengers aren’t told in advance it’s going to happen, but they’ll recognize it when suddenly they’re coming in to land and the aircraft just starts rising back up again,” McCormick said.
He added that this type of maneuver is a core element of pilot training. “This is something that pilots practice in flight simulators on a regular basis,” McCormick said, emphasizing that the Delta crew’s response was consistent with established safety protocols.
Go-arounds, while unsettling for passengers, are considered one of the safest decisions a flight crew can make when conditions on final approach become uncertain or unsafe. The decision to abort is time-critical and requires immediate coordination between the cockpit crew and air traffic control.
Part of a Broader Pattern Under Scrutiny
The Boston Logan incident adds to a growing list of runway incursion events and close calls at major U.S. airports that have drawn attention from aviation safety watchdogs and Congress in recent years. The FAA has faced pressure to examine staffing levels, communication protocols, and runway configuration risks at busy airports across the country.
Intersecting runway configurations, common at many older airports, present inherent challenges because aircraft on crossing paths can come into conflict when departure and arrival timing isn’t precisely managed. The FAA investigation will likely focus on whether a coordination breakdown between controllers and flight crews was at the root of Saturday’s incident, or whether other contributing factors played a role.
No timeline has been given for when investigators expect to release findings.
What Comes Next
The FAA is expected to review air traffic control recordings, radar data, and cockpit voice recordings as part of its investigation into the Boston Logan near-miss. Both Delta Air Lines and American Airlines will likely cooperate with the inquiry. Results of FAA runway incursion investigations are typically made public after an initial review period, though full reports can take weeks or months to complete. Travelers at Boston Logan should expect normal operations to continue in the meantime, as neither aircraft sustained damage and no runway was taken out of service following the incident.
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