One other day, one other very shut name on a runway at a serious US airport… what else is new?
Delta & Cape Air cleared on intersecting Boston runways
VASAviation has the story of an incident that occurred on Thursday, October 30, 2025, at Boston Logan Airport (BOS). This entails an arriving Delta Airbus A330-900neo and a departing Cape Air Cessna 402.
Delta flight DL263 was cleared to land on runway 4R, and when that touchdown clearance was given, the air visitors controller even proactively talked about “visitors holding on the crossing runway.” Certainly, Cape Air flight 9K548 was holding on runway 15R, awaiting takeoff clearance.
Nevertheless, a short time later, the air visitors controller gave the Cape Air flight takeoff clearance. Simply to be crystal clear, runways 4R and 15R intersect, and this clearance was given earlier than the Delta aircraft landed.
The Cape Air pilots appeared to take round 20 seconds to start out their takeoff roll, after which the air visitors controller realized that the departing aircraft and arriving aircraft have been near being on a collision course. So he instructed the Delta jet to go round on the final second, simply moments earlier than it was on account of contact down.
Not solely that, however the Cape Air pilots got directions to “go low,” recognizing even the potential threat of the 2 planes colliding within the sky, given their intercepting paths.
Clearly the Cape Air pilots have been looking their proper window at this level and realized what was happening, and so they mentioned on frequency “what the heck.” In the meantime one of many Delta pilots mentioned on frequency “that was shut.” The Delta pilot requested the quantity to name for the tower, given the severity of the scenario.
What contributed to this very shut name in Boston?
Clearly it’s on the air visitors controller for clearing a aircraft to land and clearing a aircraft to take off on intersecting runways.
That being mentioned, I believe there’s a bit of extra to this. I don’t assume the air visitors controller simply completely spaced on having given touchdown clearance to the Delta jet when he gave the Cape Air aircraft takeoff clearance. As a substitute, I believe he was anticipating the Cape Air pilots would begin their takeoff roll straight away, which might’ve supplied a extra snug stage of separation.
The Cape Air pilots waited round 20 seconds after receiving their clearance to start out the takeoff roll, which is a bit longer than common, however not remarkable. Admittedly there’s no official time restrict, and it’s not like they got directions to start their takeoff roll with “no delay,” or something. Additionally they weren’t particularly warned concerning the Delta aircraft touchdown on the intersecting runway.
What can actually be mentioned in any other case? Air visitors controllers have quite a lot of stress, there’s all the time strain to permit extra takeoffs and landings to maintain planes transferring, and on high of that, they now haven’t been receiving their pay for a couple of month as a result of authorities shutdown, which positively provides much more stress to their lives.
To the controller’s credit score, not less than he was the the one to name the go round…
Backside line
There was an in depth name at Boston Logan Airport, as a heavy Delta jet was cleared to land on a runway intersecting with one the place a Cape Air aircraft was taking off. The air visitors controller solely caught this on the final second, at which level the go round was known as. Clearly the pilots weren’t too pleased about this.
I think the Cape Air pilots taking a bit longer than common to start out the takeoff roll contributed to this, however it’s not like they violated any guidelines by doing so.
What do you make of this shut name at Boston Logan?
Supply hyperlink
