Documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Monday revealed that the pilots of an American Airlines plane taxied across the wrong runway at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport last year, narrowly avoiding a collision with a Delta Air Lines flight. The incident occurred on January 13, 2023, and the investigation is still ongoing.

According to the NTSB documents, the captain of the American Airlines Boeing 777 became distracted and confused about takeoff instructions, while the co-pilot lost track of the plane's location. The crew had initially planned to take off from runway 31L but received instructions from a controller and a message on their cockpit computer to taxi across 31L and take off from runway 4L. However, they mistakenly crossed 4L just as a Delta Boeing 737 began its takeoff roll down the same runway.

The captain, Michael Graber, stated that as the plane crossed the middle of runway 4L, he saw the red runway lights turn on, indicating that it was not safe to be on the runway. He immediately realized something was wrong and added power to speed across. Graber admitted that he had been distracted by a heavy workload and may have gone back to thinking they were taking off from the other runway.

The co-pilot, Traci Gonzalez, claimed that she knew they were supposed to cross runway 31L but was unaware of the plane's position when the captain taxied onto runway 4L. She blamed distractions, including an unusually high number of weather alerts. The relief pilot, Jeffrey Wagner, said he was "heads down" and did not know where the plane was as it taxied onto the runway. He initially thought the Delta plane on their right was taxiing behind them.

Fortunately, an air traffic controller shouted at the Delta pilots to abort their takeoff, preventing a catastrophic collision. The planes were never closer than 1,000 feet (300 meters) apart. The American crew was warned about a "possible pilot deviation" and given a phone number to call. After a delay, they took off from runway 31L and continued their journey to London.

However, the cockpit voice recording from inside the American plane was taped over during the flight, and the crew did not report the incident to American Airlines before taking off. The NTSB attempted to interview the pilots multiple times but was initially refused due to objections from their union. The NTSB ultimately issued a subpoena to compel the crew members to sit for recorded interviews.

The incident at JFK was the first in a series of serious near-collisions involving commercial and noncommercial flights on or near runways of major US airports. The NTSB has started investigations into more than seven such cases in 2023, known as runway incursions. The incident highlights the need for better preservation of cockpit voice recordings, and the FAA has recently announced that it will propose not overwriting recordings for 25 hours on new planes, following pressure from the NTSB.