List of US aircraft near-miss incidents in 2023

With seven runway incursions of United States commercial aircraft during January and February, the first two months of 2023 saw the highest rate of such incidents in five years. 2018 to 2022 combined had 23 comparable incidents, 5 of which occurred in 2022.[1] The events prompted a review by the Federal Aviation Administration,[2] announced by acting administrator Billy Nolen on February 28, 2023.[3] The review started on March 15.[4] For the first time in 14 years, U.S. aviation industry leaders met the same day at a safety summit.[4]

An August 2023 report in The New York Times found that 46 close calls had occurred involving commercial airliners in the previous month. In one instance, two consecutive aircraft taking off from San Francisco International Airport nearly hit a Frontier Airlines plane whose nose had intruded onto the runway, each only missing by a small margin that an internal FAA report called "skin to skin". The Times investigation attributed the increase in incidents in large part to a shortage in air traffic controller staffing, with overworked controllers making more errors.[5]

List of incidents

The list below includes all newsworthy near miss incidents at U.S. airports in 2023:

Date Location Incident FAA RI Rank[a] NTSB Accident ID (links to reports) Refs.
2023-01-09 Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, California Air traffic control cleared a plane to land in the same location where a plane was already being inspected. B[7] [1]
2023-01-12 Baltimore/Washington International Airport, Maryland A plane crossed the wrong runway after air traffic control did not notice the pilot's misunderstanding. B[8] [1]
2023-01-13 John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York A Delta aircraft aborted its takeoff after an American Airlines plane crossed its path. B DCA23LA125 (docket, prelim) [2]
2023-01-23 Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Hawaii A United Airlines aircraft crossed a runway into the path of a Kamaka Air small cargo plane. C DCA23LA133 (prelim) [2]
2023-02-04[2] Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Texas A FedEx cargo plane and a Southwest jet came within 100 feet after both being cleared for the same runway. A[9] DCA23FA149 (docket, prelim) [2]
2023-02-22 Hollywood Burbank Airport, California A landing Mesa Airlines took evasive action to avoid a SkyWest plane taking off. un-assessed[b] DCA23LA185 (prelim) [10]
2023-02-27 Boston Logan International Airport, Massachusetts A landing JetBlue flight took evasive action to avoid a private jet that crossed the runway. B[11] DCA23LA192 (docket, final) [2][12]
2023-03-07 Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Virginia A Republic Airways plane crossed the path of a United Airlines plane that was cleared for take off. D[13] [14]
2023-08-11 San Diego International Airport, California A Cessna Citation aircraft overflew a Southwest aircraft by about 100 feet. A[15] OPS23FA010 (prelim) [16]

Two United Airlines planes collided on March 6, 2023 at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts.[17]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Federal Aviation Administration categorises runway incursions by serious as Accident, Category A (collision narrowly avoided), Category B (significant potential for collision), Category C (ample time or distance to avoid collision), Category D (no immediate safety consequences).[6]
  2. ^ The FAA were still reviewing the incident as of 1 March 2023.

References

  1. ^ a b c Daugherty, Alex (March 2023). "'We were very lucky': Near-collisions spark new worries for air travel". POLITICO. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Wallace, Gregory; Muntean, Pete; Valinsky, Jordan (2023-03-01). "The 5 airplane near crashes under investigation | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  3. ^ Wolfsteller, Pilar (2 March 2023). "US NTSB releases preliminary report on Austin near-miss". Flight Global. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  4. ^ a b "What lies behind a string of US airline near-misses?". BBC News. 2023-03-16. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  5. ^ Ember, Sydney; Steel, Emily (2023-08-21). "Airline Close Calls Happen Far More Often Than Previously Known". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  6. ^ "Activities, Courses, Seminars & Webinars - ALC_Content - FAA - FAASTeam - FAASafety.gov". www.faasafety.gov. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  7. ^ RWS Batch Brief, FAA, 2023
  8. ^ RWS Batch Brief, FAA, 2023
  9. ^ "RWS Batch Brief". FAA. 2023.
  10. ^ Muntean, Pete (2023-02-24). "Close call between two planes on runway at Burbank Airport under investigation". CNN. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  11. ^ FAA. "RWS Batch Brief". www.asias.faa.gov.
  12. ^ "JetBlue plane and Learjet involved in near miss at Boston Logan Airport". BBC News. 2023-02-28. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  13. ^ FAA. "RWS Batch Brief". www.asias.faa.gov.
  14. ^ "Officials investigate latest close call at US airport". BBC News. 2023-03-15. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  15. ^ FAA. "RWS Batch Brief". Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  16. ^ Niles, Russ (2023-08-12). "Citation Overflies 737 At San Diego". Aviation News Web. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
  17. ^ Klein, Asher (2023-03-06). "2 United Planes Wings Clip at Boston's Logan Airport; No Injuries". NBC Boston. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
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