How the pilots of a Southwest Airlines flight confused an airport's taxiing strip for a runway is beyond imagination — but that is what happened in Florida yesterday, forcing an air traffic controller to say "Stop" multiple times before canceling the flight's takeoff.
"3278 stop. Stop, stop, 3278, STOP," a controller in a tower at Orlando International Airport said to the pilots, who were trying to take off for Albany, New York from a taxiway, according to CNN. "Cancel takeoff clearance. You're on hotel taxiway, Southwest 3278." (Hear audio in clip below, posted by WFAA.)
Fortunately, the pilots got the message and slammed on the brakes. "Southwest 3278, yes sir. We stopped," one of them said. Passengers were then removed from the aircraft and later boarded another plane (hopefully with another set of crew members).
From CNN:
Taxiways are used by planes to travel between gates and runways, but are not intended for take offs or landings. …
The aircraft's top speed was 70 knots at the time, or approximately 80 mph, according to flight data tracker FlightRadar24. Airplanes typically travel about 35 mph on taxiways. A Boeing 737 would need to accelerate to about 150 mph for takeoff.
The plane was meant to be on Runway 17R but was on taxiway H – which runs the same length and parallel to it.
The 737 stopped safely and no other aircraft were involved, Southwest said. The airline later flew the passengers to Albany on a different plane.
The bizarre incident is just one in a long string of plane accidents and dangerous near-misses that have impacted air travel in the last two months, including: last week's Delta Air Lines fire that forced passengers to stand on the plane's wing; last month's other Delta Air Lines flight that caught fire before landing upside-down, and the deadly American Airlines flight that crashed midair into a U.S. Army helicopter (just to name a few).
While the Federal Aviation Administration investigates, Southwest Airlines put out a statement: "The crew mistook the surface for the nearby runway," it said. "Southwest is engaged with the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and FAA to understand the circumstances of the event."
