Investigators subpoena American Airlines crew involved in near-miss at JFK airport

U.S. investigators have subpoenaed an American Airlines crew involved in a near-miss earlier this year after the crew “refused” to be interviewed on tape, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The subpoena follows a Jan. 13 incident at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport where an American Airlines flight crossed a runway without clearance from air traffic control, causing a Delta Air Lines plane to abort its takeoff from that runway, the NTSB said.

The two aircraft came within about 1,400 feet of each other, a preliminary report from the NTSB said. There were no injuries, and the planes did not suffer any damage.

According to the report, NTSB investigators have attempted to interview the American crew on three separate occasions: virtually on Jan. 25, in person with a court reporter on Feb. 3 and virtually with a court reporter on Feb. 8.

The agency said the crew “refused to be interviewed on the basis that their statements would be audio recorded for transcription.”

In a statement, the Allied Pilots Association (APA) – the union representing American Airlines pilots – said, “We join in the goal of creating an accurate record of all interviews conducted in the course of an investigation. However, we firmly believe the introduction of electronic recording devices into witness interviews is more likely to hinder the investigation process than it is to improve it.”

Recording interviews is a “longstanding practice,” according to the NTSB. The agency said it records and transcribes interviews when necessary “to ensure the highest level of accuracy and completeness of this critical evidence.”

Written statements from the Delta crew involved in the incident were reviewed by the NTSB. The agency said it determined their statements “contain sufficient information for NTSB investigative purposes given their role in the incident.”

Data from the cockpit voice recorders (CVR) on both planes involved in the incident is unavailable, according to the NTSB. Current U.S. standards on CVR’s require them to record for 2 hours at a time and then they are subsequently overwritten.

“The transcripts of each flight crew member’s account of the activities and conversation leading up to the runway incursion is particularly important in the absence of a cockpit voice recording,” the NTSB said in a statement.

The agency said American Airlines “cooperated” with the investigation and cleared the flight crew’s schedules to ensure their availability for the requested interviews.

“The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority and we are cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation of American Airlines Flight 106,” American Airlines said in a statement.

The American flight crew members have seven days to respond to the subpoena, the NTSB said.

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