Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is caught in one of the worst aviation crises in American history, as Boeing jets fall apart in mid-air and while on the runway. The latest near-disaster happened when a JetBlue flight nearly collided with a Southwest Airlines flight at Washington, DC's Reagan National Airport on Thursday morning.
For any Zero Hedge readers who are aviators, you already know that as a pilot in command in airspace controlled by a tower, you're putting complete trust in air traffic controllers to guide you on the most effective path possible without hitting other planes.
But that was almost not the case on Thursday morning when air traffic control instructed Southwest Airlines Flight 2937 to cross runway four at the airport while JetBlue Flight 1554 took off.
The audio is absolutely shocking. For any pilot, it sends shivers down your spine...
DCA TOWER: JetBlue 1554, Stop!
DCA GROUND: Southwest, Stop! Southwest 2937, Stop!
Southwest Pilot: We stopped. We were cleared to cross runway 4.
JetBlue Pilot: We're stopping, JetBlue 1554
southwest + jetblue planes nearly collided on the runway at Reagan airport in DC today
— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) April 18, 2024
ATC directed the southwest plane to cross a runway where the Jetblue plane was already cleared to takeoff
listen to the screams in the tower
video credit: @VASAviation pic.twitter.com/RDdiwLUNl2
This is not the first operational error by towers across US airports. In February 2023, a landing FedEx cargo plane nearly collided with a Southwest passenger at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas.
On Friday, FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker directed controllers to take ten hours off between shifts and a minimum of 12 straight hours off before a midnight shift.
Every pilot should be concerned about the FAA's latest DEI hiring spree of folks with "hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism" problems.
Sigh, Buttigieg.
