Takeoff Aborted In ‘Abundance Of Caution’

There were some frayed nerves and shredded tires but no injuries when a New Orleans tower controller ordered a Delta A321 to abort its takeoff on Friday night. "An air traffic controller canceled the takeoff clearance for Delta Air Lines Flight 1482 after a Learjet landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and made a wrong turn onto a taxiway," the FAA said in a statement to AVweb. "The Learjet never crossed the hold short line. The controller canceled the takeoff clearance for the Delta Airbus A321 out of an abundance of caution. This incident occurred around 7:45 p.m. local time on March 31."

On the ATC tape the Lear was cleared to land on the same runway that the Delta plane was headed for to depart to Salt Lake City. Two controllers directed the Lear to its destination on the airport, but the transmissions from the Lear were garbled so it's not clear if the crew understood them. A ground controller ordered the crew to "Stop!" just before the tower controller cleared the A321 for takeoff and then canceled the clearance.

The tower controller apologized to the Delta crew and offered to expedite their trip back to the end of the runway, but the A321 wasn't going anywhere. Passengers reported hearing loose flaps of rubber on the tires flapping on the tarmac as they taxied. The flight was canceled and passengers delayed as the airline found them other flights. The incident came a few days after the latest in a series of directives from the FAA stressing the "need for continued vigilance and attention to mitigation of safety risks."