FAA and NTSB searching for cause of taxiway incursion at Logan Airport

By David Abel, Travis Andersen and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

The Federal Aviation Administration kicked its investigation into the incursion at Boston Logan Airport into high gear today, but has not yet concluded why the two aircraft clipped each other as they prepared to take off Thursday night.

The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating, but will not be sending staff to Logan, said NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson. Instead, the Washington-based independent federal agency is collecting information from data recorders on both aircraft, reports from Logan’s ground radar, and reports from FAA investigators and airline flight crews.

“We are not going to send an investigator,’’ Knudson said. “We have all the information that we need to investigate the accident’’ over the next several weeks.

In a separate interview, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said that FAA investigators are reviewing tape recordings of the conversations between air and ground traffic controllers and the pilots of the two aircraft to determine whether the correct instructions were given and properly followed by the pilots.

The smaller jet, Atlantic Southeast Flight 4904, was heading to Raleigh-Durham with 74 passengers on board. Delta Flight 266, a Boeing 767, was taxiing for departure at about 7:40 p.m. with 204 passengers and 11 crew on the flight to Amsterdam. (Passengers who wish to share their experiences can contact Globe reporter David Abel at dabel@globe.com.)

Peters also said investigators will check to see whether the pilots, when steering their aircraft on the taxiways, veered away from the centerline of the taxiway, putting the planes into the position to come into contact with each other as a result.

Peters said the collision is still considered to be technically an incident that is solely the responsibility of the FAA to investigate. The FAA could, however, upgrade the collision to an accident under aviation safety rules, which would bring the National Transportation Safety Board into the case.

Peters said FAA investigators will also examine the planes and collect statements from the pilots of the aircraft.

Both Peters and Logan spokesman Phil Orlandella said the collision between the two aircraft does not signal that Logan is an unsafe airport.

“Fortunately, no one was seriously injured in this incident … Logan Airport is safe for those that use it, including the crews, the employees of Massport and the traveling public,’’ said Peters. The collision will be “fully investigated so that we understand what led to it so we can fix it and avoid it in the future.’’

Orlandella said Logan is functioning normally today, as it continued to do after the collision between the two aircraft last night.

“The airport was never closed,’’ said Orlandella. “The airport didn’t miss a beat.’’

The Globe reported today that the impact between the two aircraft jolted passengers and drew more than a dozen emergency vehicles to Logan. One passenger was transported to a Boston hospital reporting neck pains, officials said.

In a recording of air traffic control communications posted last night on LiveATC.net, a pilot in the larger jet could be heard telling the controller that his aircraft just struck the smaller one.

“Did he hit you with his tail - with his wing?’’ the controller asked a pilot in the Atlantic Southeast plane.

“Absolutely he did,’’ the pilot responded. We’re holding.’’

When the controller asked the pilot in the larger plane to taxi back to the terminal, he said, “We’d prefer the trucks just come out and take a look before we move.’’

After doing a systems check, the pilot on the smaller plane reported it had lost its hydraulic system and had limited braking abilities. He told controllers he could not taxi back to the terminal.

As the controllers sent fire trucks to the scene, one asked another person on the radio if he could see anything leaking from the plane.

“We’ve got severe damage to the tail and excessive hydraulic leakage,’’ he responded.

A federal study released in 2007 ranked Logan fourth in the nation in so-called runway incursions, the close calls involving planes that nearly collide or take wrong turns on the tarmac.

Logan had at least 117 incursions between 2000 and 2010, with at least 11 last year, according to the FAA. In one incident last September, the pilot of an Airbus A319 made a wrong turn and proceeded on a closed taxiway, despite directions he received from the control tower.

In the 2007 report, the Government Accountability Office counted 30 near-collisions - the most dangerous type of runway incursion - at Logan between fiscal year 2001 and fiscal 2006, including several incidents that the FAA designated as serious, “where collisions were narrowly or barely avoided.’’

In the report, Boston ranked behind Los Angeles International Airport, O’Hare in Chicago, and Philadelphia International Airport in what investigators then said was a growing rate of near-collisions that they attributed to overworked controllers, increased air traffic, and waning safety efforts by the FAA.

The most serious near-collision at Logan occurred in 2005 when an Aer Lingus Airbus and a similarly sized US Airways jet took off about the same time from different runways, missing each other by about 300 feet, Massport officials told the Globe last year.

Last year, to reduce the possibility of collisions, Logan became the nation’s first airport to introduce an elaborate, $3.6 million system of lights and radar designed to prevent such collisions and close calls.

The new Runway Status Lights system uses a series of incandescent red lights embedded in the pavement to warn pilots when it is unsafe to enter, cross, or proceed down a runway. The new system uses data from ground-based radar, transponders aboard airplanes, and other sensors to issue direct warnings to pilots about potential incursions or collisions.

John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.