Egypt Air Pilot Who Caused Near-Collision At JFK Made Two Big Mistakes

Not only did he turn in the wrong direction, he also crossed a "hold line" he had been instructed to say behind:

NEW YORK – A pilot of a jet carrying 286 passengers slammed on the brakes to abort takeoff at Kennedy Airport this week after another plane began taxiing toward the runway it was using, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday.

Lufthansa Flight 411 was cleared for takeoff and EgyptAir Flight 986 was instructed to stay behind a "hold line," 250 feet behind the runway, at 6:50 p.m. Monday, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. The EgyptAir crossed the line but did not enter the runway, she said.

"When air traffic control saw that, it canceled the takeoff for Lufthansa," Bergen said, adding that the Lufthansa plane stopped "a considerable distance" from the EgyptAir jet.

In radio recordings posted on the website LiveATC.net, a controller in the JFK tower is heard giving takeoff clearance to the Lufthansa flight while another controller directs the EgyptAir plane.

"No! Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!" shouts someone in the tower as the EgyptAir plane crosses the hold-short line.

"Cancel takeoff! Cancel takeoff plans!" a controller shouts to the Lufthansa jet.

The pilot of the Lufthansa plane, an Airbus A340, slammed on the brakes and came to a stop. Then the plane taxied off the runway. The pilot told controllers he was worried his brakes may have overheated, so controllers sent a Port Authority crew to help check the plane's landing gear.

"That was quite a show. Thought it was going to be a short career," a pilot who witnessed the aborted takeoff remarked on the radio.

The FAA was looking at "pilot deviation" because the EgyptAir plane, a Boeing 777, didn't follow air traffic instructions.