Cancelled take off Clearance - JFK

[sacex250]

This incident never came close to being as bad as the Tenerife crash because the Lufthansa crew could see the EgyptAir plane and they aborted their takeoff early enough to stop.

I think they slammed the brakes when told to cancel by the controller, not because they saw Egypt Air on the runway. The latter may well have been too late. So, it's probably the controller to be credited first - and the fact that he could see the conflict (window or ground radar). Of course, Lufthansa's response was also good either way.

When listening to the audio, the first officer immediately replies to the tower that they're rejecting the takeoff.  He wouldn't have done that if they weren't already slowing down.  Plus, the Lufthansa had the best view of what was happening, if the tower could see that EgyptAir had missed the turn then the Lufthansa pilots could certainly see a 777 heading onto the runway in front of them.  

[tszarek]

How shocking.  The news media blowing it out of proportion and exaggerating it to make a story out of something that isn't a story.

The NY Post has a better article that at least clarifies that the EgyptAir was 37 feet from the runway, but the closest the planes got was 1500 feet.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/feet_from_disaster_at_jfk_e4aV6YHOoPU1UQEHnzAHPP

While it might be out of proportion, this is still very much a story that the public should be aware of, if for no other reason than to keep pressure on regulator agencies to make sure it doesn't happen again.

[NoMad]

I agree it is a serious incident.  It's the reporting that was ridiculous.  This was never even close to being a collision but the reports on TV screaming about how this was a near death incident.

[Robert Larson]

I noticed that while the article describes the Lufthansa as an A340 they have a picture of an A380 there. More sensational that way I suppose.