Description

On 6 December 1999, a Boeing 757-200 being operated by United Airlines failed to follow its taxi-in clearance after a night landing in fog at Providence RI and ended up at the edge of the same runway it had just landed on as a departing FedEx B727-200 passed close overhead. Despite being advised by the 757 that it was uncertain of its position but believed it was on an active runway, the TWR controller then twice cleared a MetroJet Boeing 737-200 to take off on the same runway. The crew of that aircraft declined both clearances pending certainty on the position of the lost 757.

Investigation

Although the National Transportation Safety Board (USA) (NTSB) investigated this complex and serious incident, for reasons that have not been established, no formal official report of the Investigation was ever published. However, all the pertinent factual information was officially released during a subsequent overall review by the Board of runway incursions in which this event was one of four examples of serious runway incursions which occurred in 1999 and were detailed at a Public Hearing dedicated to the subject on 13 June 2000. The account provided here is based on information provided at that hearing and on the FAA R/T Transcript of the event.