Officials are investigating a close call between a plane that was crossing a runway and another that was preparing for takeoff.
"(Expletive)! Delta 1943, cancel takeoff clearance! Delta 1943, cancel takeoff clearance!" an air controller said in an audio recording of Air Traffic Control communications when he noticed the other plane, operated by American Airlines, crossing in front.
The recording was made by LiveATC, a website that monitors and posts flight communications at a New York airport on Friday night.
Delta Air Lines' departing Boeing 737 plane then came to a safe stop on the John F. Kennedy International Airport runway as the other crossed in front around 8:45 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
Air traffic control initially can be heard saying the Delta flight heading to the Dominican Republic was "cleared for takeoff".
But moments later an agent realised the plane was about to collide with an American Airlines plane that was crossing the runway at the same time.
The controller could be heard exclaiming: "S***, ah! F***!" until another says: "America 106 Heavy, America 106 Heavy, Heavy hold position... American 106 Heavy hold position".
A third air traffic controller, meanwhile, tells the Delta pilot: "Delta 1943 cancel takeoff clearance! Delta 1943 cancel takeoff clearance".
After the planes have stopped moving and the worst has been avoided, a controller asks the Delta pilot what his intentions are.
The pilot says calmly: "Yeah, we're gonna have to go somewhere, run a couple of checklists and probably make some phone calls for Delta 1943."
Brian Healy, a passenger on the Delta flight, said at first he thought the abrupt stop was a mechanical issue.
"There was this abrupt jerk of the plane, and everyone was sort of thrust forward from the waist," he recalled. "There was an audible reaction when the brakes happened, like a gasp. And then there was a total silence for a couple of seconds."
Healy, who was travelling with his husband for their winter getaway to the Dominican Republic, said it wasn’t until he was scrolling on Twitter the next day that he realised the gravity of what could have happened on that runway.
"The pilot made the call to only share information on a need-to-know basis, and that was absolutely the right call, because it would’ve been pandemonium," he said.
John Cox, a retired pilot and professor of aviation safety at the University of Southern California, said he thought the controller "made a good call to reject the takeoff."
He said the rejected takeoff safety manoeuvre, which is when pilots stop the aircraft and discontinue the takeoff, is one they are "very, very familiar with."
"Pilots practice rejected takeoff almost every time they get to the simulator," he said.
The Delta plane stopped about 1,000 feet (about 0.3 kilometres) from where the American Airlines plane had crossed from an adjacent taxiway, according to the FAA statement.
The plane returned to the gate, where the 145 passengers deplaned and were provided overnight accommodations, a Delta spokesperson said. The flight to Santa Domingo Airport in the Dominican Republic took off Saturday morning.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Saturday that it will investigate.
The National Transportation Safety Board also said it was looking into the case.
"They'll go back and listen to every transmission between the American jet and air traffic control to see who misunderstood what," Cox said.
"Delta will work with and assist aviation authorities on a full review of flight 1943 on Jan. 13 regarding a successful aborted takeoff procedure at New York-JFK. We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience and delay of their travels," a Delta spokesperson said in a statement.
American Airlines would not comment on the incident and said it would defer all questions to the FAA.
