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A Southwest Airlines plane took off from a runway it wasn’t supposed to take off from last month.
The National Transportation Safety Board has given its initial findings in an investigation into the incident, and the report paints a picture of pilots who made a key oversight before encountering no other safeguards.
The June 28 flight was leaving from Portland International Jetport in Maine on its way to Baltimore, Maryland. As part of its pre-flight process, the pilots were supposed to check a booklet telling them that the runway in question was closed for construction and to call their dispatcher before taking off. For unknown reasons, they did not do so.
When it came time to take off, they told the airport’s central communications system that their Boeing 737 Max 7 plane was leaving from the under-construction runway.
“The captain stated that the FO made ‘multiple calls to Portland Traffic’ in regards to their planned taxi route,” the report says.
Even though the pilots saw a truck leave the under-construction runway, they didn’t see any other markings or signs that the runway was not passable. So they took off and made the rest of their trip without incident.
Southwest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.