2005 Logan Airport runway incursion
Aer Lingus Airbus Industrie A330-301 and US Airways Boeing 737-3B7 · Air traffic control error
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC05IA095
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Incident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 272
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Aircraft 1 · Airbus Industrie A330-301
- Aircraft type
- Airbus A330
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- EI-ORD
- Operator
- Aer Lingus
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, MATo Shannon Airport (EINN), Shannon
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 129: Foreign
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Takeoff · roll/run
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Miscellaneous/other
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- None
Aircraft 2 · Boeing 737-3B7
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N394US
- Operator
- US Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 109
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Not stated
- Route
- From Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, MATo Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Philadephia, PA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 121: Air Carrier
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Takeoff · roll/run
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Miscellaneous/other
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- None
Cause areas
- Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
From the Wikipedia article
The 2005 Logan Airport runway incursion was a runway incursion that occurred at approximately 7:40 p.m. Eastern time on 9 June 2005 between US Airways flight 1170 (US1170) and Aer Lingus flight 132 (EI132). EI132 was an Airbus A330-300 aircraft, owned and operated by the Irish airline Aer Lingus, bound for Shannon, Ireland, and with 12 crew members and 260 passengers. US1170 was a Boeing 737-300 aircraft owned by Wells Fargo Bank Northwest NA and operated by US Airways, bound for Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniaand with 6 crew members and 103 passengers. The incursion took place on runway 9 of General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (BOS), in Boston, Massachusetts. In total, 381 people were on board the two aircraft.
Incident
To reduce radio congestion and the resulting consequences of pilot or controller error, airports with a large number of operations will split the tower (local) controller into two or more positions. This was the case that night, when each of the incident flights was the responsibility of different controllers. The local control west controller was responsible for Aer Lingus flight 132 and the local control east controller was responsible for US Airways flight 1170.
At 19:39:10, Aer Lingus flight 132 was cleared to take off from runway 15R by local control west. Five seconds later, local control east cleared US Airways flight 1170 to take off from runway 9, which intersects runway 15R; the aircraft had essentially been sent on a collision course. With the airport terminals between the two aircraft when the takeoffs began, the flight crews were initially unable to see each other.
During the takeoff, the US Airways first officer noticed the other aircraft and realised they could collide. He realised that at the runway intersection both aircraft would be starting to lift off. Telling the Captain to "keep it down", he pushed the control column forward. He was able to keep the aircraft from lifting off the runway, which allowed it to reach the intersection and pass beneath the other aircraft as it took off. The two aircraft passed at a distance of approximately 70 feet (21 m) from each other, with the Aer Lingus aircraft flying over the US Airways aircraft. According to the NTSB report, the US Airways flight had already reached its V1 speed and could no longer safely abort the takeoff; therefore, the flight crew continued down the runway and took off after passing through the intersection.
Investigation and cause
Probable cause
The NTSB completed its investigation and found that the east tower controller had given the west tower controller permission for the Aer Lingus to depart on 15R. While coordinating other traffic, he forgot to release that aircraft and cleared the US Airways for takeoff. Local procedures required the east controller to wait until the departure on 15R had passed the intersection before clearing the aircraft on runway 9 for takeoff. The NTSB reported that the probable cause of the incident was that the east local controller did not follow FAA Order 7110.65 and local procedures, which resulted in a runway incursion.
After the incident, the Boston tower changed its procedures so that only the west local controller can initiate a departure on the crossing runway 15R, and so that once the east controllers accept the release, the aircraft must be cleared for takeoff within five seconds. In addition, to reduce the possibility of this type of incident happening again, aircraft must not be held on runway 9 awaiting their takeoff clearance while there is a departure on 15R. Once the departure has cleared the intersection, local west must inform the east controller that the intersection has been cleared.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Spanish Wikipedia article “Incursión de pista del Aeropuerto Logan de 2005” (revision 161480312, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
NTSB narrative
The airport was conducting operations on intersecting runways. The local east controller (LCE) was responsible for aircraft operating on runways 4R and 9, and the local west controller (LCW) was responsible for aircraft operating on runways 15R and 4L. Runway 15R intersected three active runways: 4L, 4R, and 9. The LCW was responsible for an Airbus A330, and the LCE was responsible for a Boeing 737. Both controllers were utilizing different frequencies. At 1927:51, the Airbus was instructed to taxi into position and hold on runway 15R. At 1938:24, the LCE contacted the LCW, and reported that he "observed and released" the Airbus. At 1939:10, the LCW cleared the Airbus for takeoff. Five seconds later, the LCE cleared the Boeing for takeoff from runway 9, which resulted in a runway incursion. Boston Tower Order 7110.11J, "Standard Operating Procedures" required the LCW to obtain a release from LCE in order to depart airplanes from runway 15R. Once the release was issued, LCE was required to stop operations on runways 4R and 9 until the airplane departed. Federal Aviation Administration Order 7110.65, Air Traffic Control, paragraph 3-9-8, Intersecting Runway Separation, stated in part: "Separate departing aircraft from an aircraft using an intersecting runway, or nonintersecting runways when the flight paths intersect, by ensuring that the departure does not begin takeoff roll until one of the following exists: a. The preceding aircraft has departed and passed the intersection, has crossed the departure runway, or is turning to avert any conflict... ."
Probable cause
The local east controller's failure to follow FAA Order 7110.65, para 3-9-8 and Boston Tower Order 7110.11, Standard Operating Procedures, which resulted in a runway incursion during takeoff involving two transport category airplanes.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Spanish Wikipedia article: Incursión de pista del Aeropuerto Logan de 2005
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 161480312 · 2024-07-23 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q95921282
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record NYC05IA095
- Event ID
- 20050624X00863
- Case number
- NYC05IA095
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- es Wikipedia article "Incursión de pista del Aeropuerto Logan de 2005" (page 9448570, revision 161480312), translated into English with AI assistance; merged with NTSB case NYC05IA095 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record NYC05IA095: NTSB narrative opening date, consistent with the API date and time (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record NYC05IA095
- Map position
- NTSB record NYC05IA095: NTSB API eventLatitude/eventLongitude
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record NYC05IA095: aircraft; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record NYC05IA095: operated under Part 129: Foreign, Part 121: Air Carrier
- Fatalities
- NTSB record NYC05IA095: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record NYC05IA095: events.inj_f_grnd
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (4)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2005 Logan Airport runway incursion" and NTSB case NYC05IA095, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for EI-ORD; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.