Earlier today, a LOT Polish Airlines Embraer E175 and an Enter Air Boeing 737 were involved in what initially appeared to be a near-miss. The incident happened in Poland at the nation’s largest airport of Warsaw Chopin Airport.
The LOT Polish Airlines Embraer E170, bearing the registration registered as SP-LIB, was beginning its departure to Oslo. Flight LO481 began to taxi out to the runway at 07:48 local time, turning onto runway 15 at 07:55 local time, and commenced its takeoff roll shortly after.
As the aircraft was taxiing out, a slightly larger aircraft was also making a landing. A Boeing 737 aircraft operated by Polish charter agency Enter Air was coming in on flight ENT51UA from Basel Mulhouse-Freiburg EuroAirport into Warsaw. The Boeing 737-800, registered as SP-ESC, landed on runway 11 at 07:55 local time, according to flight tracking data from Flightradar24.com.
The charter jet landed on runway 11/29 and continued before turning onto taxiway N2 and reaching its designated gate. Meanwhile, LOT Polish Airlines Embraer E175 was on its takeoff roll down runway 15, which intersects runway 11 on the airfield.
The Embraer aircraft reached a speed of 63 kilometers per hour (39 miles per hour) before braking and losing over half of its ground speed in a matter of five seconds. The E175 then turned onto the nearest taxiway, O1, and circled back around to approach runway 15 once again at the same spot. The LOT Polish Airlines aircraft then successfully took off again at 08:05 and landed in Oslo 1 hour and 40 minutes later.
What caused the alarm?
The initial response online was that the two aircraft had come quite close and potentially caused a safety threat. Passengers onboard the LOT Polish Airlines flight noted the sharp braking action and proximity of the Enter Air aircraft. When contacted by Simple Flying for this article, a spokesperson from the airline confirmed that no such incident had occurred:
“There was no near-miss situation. Embraer 175, SP-LIB, performing flight LO481 from Warsaw to Oslo rejected takeoff procedure at low speed due to indication in the cockpit.”
The airline confirmed that the LOT Polish Airlines Embraer did indeed circle back to the beginning via the taxiway and took off to Oslo successfully on a subsequent attempt at 08:05. The rest of flight LO481 was uneventful, with the aircraft landing in Oslo at its originally scheduled time of 09:59.
A detailed chart of the Warsaw Airport published by the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) shows an additional problem area. The map lists taxiway A4, which crosses runway 11/29, as a potential runway incursion hot spot and notes that runway incursions have taken place there previously. The point at which the two runways intersect, much further down the airfield, is not listed as a potential hotspot and does not feature any taxiway links.
LOT Polish Airlines was one of the first to fly the Embraer E175. Take a look at which models still fly for the airline in our recent analysis.
Source: Aerotime