2007-12 · NASA ASRS report 760389
AN ACR PILOT HOLDING SHORT OF JFK RWY 31R ON RWY 22R REPORTS A B747-400 WINGTIP MISSED HIS ACFT BY APPROX 5 FT.
I WAS INSTRUCTED BY KENNEDY GROUND TO TAXI FROM THE RAMP TO RWY 31L; INTERSECTION Y VIA TURN LEFT ONTO CHARLIE; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 22R ON CHARLIE. ONCE HOLDING AT THIS POSITION; WE WERE INSTRUCTED TO TURN RIGHT ONTO RWY 22R; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 31R; LANDING TRAFFIC. I MADE A NORMAL RIGHT TURN TO ROLL OUT ON CENTERLINE AND ROLLED AHEAD SO AS TO NOT STOP IN A TURN. THIS PUT US APPROXIMATELY 35 FEET FROM THE EDGE LINE OF RWY 31R. AT THIS POINT; I LOOKED TO MY LEFT AND SAW THE TRAFFIC WE WERE HOLDING SHORT FOR. IT TURNED OUT THAT THE TRAFFIC WAS A B747-400. I COULD SEE THAT ITS WING TIP/WINGLET WAS EXTENDING WELL PAST THE EDGE OF THE RUNWAY AND IT LOOKED AS THOUGH IT WOULD PASS VERY CLOSE TO OUR COCKPIT. (IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE WINGSPAN OF A -400 IS 211 FT; 5 INCHES [SOURCE -- BOEING WEB SITE]) AND THE WIDTH OF RWY 31R IS 150 FEET. ASSUMING THE B747 PILOT LANDED ON AND MAINTAINED THE RUNWAY CENTER LINE THROUGHOUT THE LANDING ROLLOUT; I ESTIMATE THAT HIS WINGTIP/WINGLET MISSED OUR COCKPIT BY NO MORE THAN 5 FEET. I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING TO THE GROUND CONTROLLER ABOUT THIS INCIDENT AS I WAS PRETTY SHAKEN UP. I FEEL CERTAIN; HOWEVER; THAT HE WAS TOTALLY UNAWARE OF HOW CLOSE WE CAME TO 'BUYING THE FARM' DUE TO HIS ERROR.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.