Federal officials are investigating a near-collision between a passenger jet and an airport ground vehicle at the Portland International Jetport on Tuesday.
Jetport spokesperson Zachary Sundquist didn’t provide many details in a news release confirming that airport officials were actively participating in an investigation with the Federal Aviation Administration on the departure of Southwest Airlines Flight 4805 on June 25.
“We are grateful that airport staff maintained situational awareness, identifying in real-time the aircraft entering the runway environment and immediately vacating the airport vehicle from the runway,” Sundquist said. “We will have no further statement due to the ongoing investigation.”
Newsweek reports that a Boeing 737 nearly struck a vehicle when it took off first thing Tuesday morning while the runway was closed and being inspected for safety.
Controllers can be heard warning the pilot that the runway was closed and there was a vehicle on the runway, in an audio recording obtained by Portland TV station WMTW. The controller than says, “I tried warning him.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Join the Conversation
We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It’s a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. Read more...
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
For those stories that we do enable discussion, our system may hold up comments pending the approval of a moderator for several reasons, including possible violation of our guidelines. As the Maine Trust’s digital team reviews these comments, we ask for patience.
Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday and limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve.
By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is found on our FAQs.
You can modify your screen name here.
Show less
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.