A Delta flight had simply begun its takeoff roll at Benito Juárez Mexico Metropolis Worldwide Airport when a regional jet appeared to fly over the airplane and land in entrance of it on the identical runway, forcing the Delta pilots to hit the brakes.
Aeromexico Flight 1691, arriving from the town of Aguascalientes, touched down on Monday as Atlanta-bound Delta flight 590 was accelerating to provoke takeoff at 7:28 a.m. native time, in line with Delta and preliminary flight information from the monitoring web site Flightradar24. The info exhibits that the Delta Boeing 737-800 reached 62 knots, or about 71 miles per hour, earlier than pilots stopped the airplane and halted their takeoff.
The Delta pilots exited the runway and returned to the gate, the airline stated. The airplane obtained further gasoline and ultimately departed for Atlanta at 9:42 a.m. The flight carrying 144 passengers and 6 crew members landed safely in Atlanta at 3:20 p.m. ET, in line with Delta.
“As a result of nothing is extra essential than the security of our prospects and folks, Delta will totally cooperate with authorities because the circumstances round this flight are investigated. We respect the flight crew’s actions to take care of situational consciousness and act rapidly – a part of Delta’s intensive coaching,” a Delta spokesperson stated in an announcement to CBS Information.
Within the wake of the incident, Delta says it filed studies with the Nationwide Transportation Security Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and Mexico’s Federal Civil Aviation Company, which is the nation’s aviation regulator.
Aeromexico stated it’s working carefully with the corresponding authorities to conduct an investigation. “At Aeromexico, the security of our prospects and staff is, and can all the time be, our highest precedence,” the airline’s assertion stated.
Mexican aviation authorities had no remark when contacted by CBS Information on Tuesday.
Days earlier than the incident in Mexico, the pilot of a SkyWest flight — which was working as Delta Connection — apologized to passengers after performing what he described as an “aggressive maneuver” whereas approaching a runway in Minot, North Dakota, the place the airplane was set for touchdown. The pilot stated he had carried out the maneuver to keep away from a U.S. Air Drive B-52 bomber that gave the impression to be flying alongside “a converging course” together with his airplane.
The Air Drive says its flight crew was in communication with air visitors management however was not informed concerning the airliner.
SkyWest stated the flight, from Minneapolis, had 76 passengers and 4 crew members on board.
The airline and the FAA are investigating the incident.