Gonzaga near miss on runway

TheDude73

Heisman
Jan 7, 2006
23,935
23,103
113
I won't post the video as the only one I found was on CNN and I know how that will go over around here.

But the event wasn't that close. Even if the chartered Gonzaga plane had entered the runway, the Delta jet had already taken off quite a ways up and would have had several hundred feet of clearance above that little jet.

But both of those charter pilots need to be suspended. You don't float out into the main runway without looking. No way they didn't see that 737 coming down their way.
 

FltDoc

All-Conference
Jan 4, 2003
1,993
1,851
0
"KeyLime" was never cleared to cross that active runway -- should have held short automatically as best I could tell from the radio convos.

What you can't see is where the hold short point is.... but it appears it was crossed...

What you didn't hear was a dressing down of anyone (by the controllers), so at least they were professional until the tapes can be reviewed...

Am sure there are better analyses out there versus my quick take....
 

TortElvisII

Heisman
May 7, 2010
51,701
96,948
66
Why do we always call it a near miss when planes almost hit each other. Shouldn’t the correct phrase be a near collision? Not calling OP out but it always been phrased like this.
True. I just copied the headline. Didn't even think of it.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/near-miss-near-hit-word-history-usage#:~:text=The term was widely used,almost happens but does not.

Some usage experts have defended this later use of near miss on the grounds that it agrees with another adjectival use of near in the dictionary, that being defined as "nearly not happening," as in "a near escape."

Some have also speculated that the resemblance of near miss to near thing, a British idiom that itself means “a close call,” might have helped along English speakers’ comfort with using the former term with the latter meaning.
 

Mdnerd

All-American
Apr 20, 2022
1,887
5,739
113
I won't post the video as the only one I found was on CNN and I know how that will go over around here.

But the event wasn't that close. Even if the chartered Gonzaga plane had entered the runway, the Delta jet had already taken off quite a ways up and would have had several hundred feet of clearance above that little jet.

But both of those charter pilots need to be suspended. You don't float out into the main runway without looking. No way they didn't see that 737 coming down their way.
They likely couldn’t see the jet at the angle they were entering the runway. That said, they didn’t have clearance onto the runway, and that’s going to be a huge deal for them.

Runway incursions will get you the full wrath of the FAA.
 

Skyguyb27

All-American
Feb 12, 2008
4,463
7,432
113
I won't post the video as the only one I found was on CNN and I know how that will go over around here.

But the event wasn't that close. Even if the chartered Gonzaga plane had entered the runway, the Delta jet had already taken off quite a ways up and would have had several hundred feet of clearance above that little jet.

But both of those charter pilots need to be suspended. You don't float out into the main runway without looking. No way they didn't see that 737 coming down their way.
That’s not the first time there has been situations like this at LAX. i agree the news was overzealous with their wording on this one.
 

megablue

Heisman
Oct 2, 2012
14,324
14,156
113
Ala near miss/near collision, has anyone noticed when flying now, both pilots and attendants say “rough air” in place of turbulence ??
 

EliteBlue

Heisman
Mar 27, 2009
16,751
20,269
0
"KeyLime" was never cleared to cross that active runway -- should have held short automatically as best I could tell from the radio convos.

What you can't see is where the hold short point is.... but it appears it was crossed...

What you didn't hear was a dressing down of anyone (by the controllers), so at least they were professional until the tapes can be reviewed...

Am sure there are better analyses out there versus my quick take....
Keylime was also given hold short instructions at the beginning of the video.

Without looking up LAXs airport diagram, my assumption is she was crossing an active to get to their departure runway despite reading back the hold short instructions.

As for the comments saying it wasn’t that close…. A few hundred feet for a 737 accelerating down a runway at 150+ knots is a matter of seconds. It also likely caused the pilots of the Delta jet to rotate as early as possible and increase the steepness of their initial climb. When operating at near rotation speed (the speed where flight becomes possible), a rapid increase in Angle of Attack can result in a stall. Thankfully the factors didn’t line up. But the keylime pilot should/will be investigated and grounded for a while at minimum