Featured Image Credit: fhm / Getty / YouTube/JFK International Airport
Last year, two planes almost crashed on the runway at New York's JFK International Airport.
On January 13 2023, a Boeing 777 headed to the UK and a Boeing 737 headed to the Dominican Republic were taxiing along the runway when the near-miss occurred.
Terrifying audio captures the moment they almost collided.
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In the clip, you can hear the pilots of each plane speaking with air traffic controllers.
One of the planes, Delta Airlines, can be seen heading down the runway marked '4L,' approaching the end as it looks to make a u-turn.
But, in the distance, the second aircraft, American Airlines, is directed towards the same runway.
And this is where things start to go seriously wrong.
As the first plane makes its u-turn and starts heading back on itself up '4L' ready to take off, the second plane cuts across its path.
The air traffic controllers can then be heard telling the plane to abort its take-off in a desperate attempt to stop a potentially deadly accident.
"S**t!" one of them shouts.
Fortunately, the pilots manage to divert their planes and, in a near-miss, stop within just 1,000 feet (305 meters) of each other.
The Delta Airlines flight was carrying 145 passengers and six crew members, while the American Airlines aircraft had 137 passengers and 14 crew members onboard.
Had the two fully-fuelled planes actually collided, it would have likely led to an intense and deadly fire.
Following the incident, one Delta passenger told NBC News that their heart was in their mouth when they saw the other plane up ahead.
Brian Healy said: "It was like a split second of panic that resulted in this audible reaction on the plane.
"I felt the adrenaline and there was total quiet on the plane and then there was relief when the plane came to a stop."
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has since published a report following an investigation into the near-miss collision.
As reported by Forbes, the NTSB found that 'the American Airlines pilot’s multitasking in the cockpit and similar distraction at the air traffic control tower were the most likely contributors to the near-miss incident.'
Meanwhile, runway incursion technology most likely saved a lot of lives that day, alerting the air traffic control tower about a potential collision.
"Five seconds after the alerts, the controller cancelled the takeoff clearance of the Delta airplane, which quickly decelerated as the American 777 was crossing in front of it," they reported.
