Swiss Crew Aborts Takeoff For Four Other Planes Crossing JFK Runway

On April 17, the day before a runway incursion at Reagan National Airport in Washington made headlines, a Swiss Air crew aborted their takeoff at JFK because there were four aircraft crossing the runway from which they'd been cleared to take off. "Swiss 17K Heavy, rejecting takeoff. Traffic on the runway," the Swiss Air pilot reported to JFK Tower on ATC recordings compiled by VASAviation in the animation above. Another controller on a different frequency cleared the other four aircraft to cross Runway 4L at roughly the same time as the Swiss heavy was starting its roll.

The Swiss pilot most likely spotted a Delta Boeing 767 that had just arrived from Nice, France, crossing the runway on Taxiway H, which is about midway on the 12,079-foot runway. The Swiss plane got about a quarter of the way down the runway on its aborted takeoff. Meanwhile, three other aircraft crews were told to cross the runway beyond that first Delta flight. After aborting the takeoff, the Swiss flight exited the runway at Taxiway K3 and was allowed to turn around there and depart from that taxiway intersection to avoid having to taxi all the way back to the end of the runway, which would have required it to refuel. It took off six minutes after the abort.