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.”
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