Lufthansa-American came close to a collision at Miami airport - 'Made every wrong turn possible'

A Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 came close to being in an accident with an American Airlines Boeing 787-8 at the Miami International Airport last week. The Lufthansa aircraft was taxiing when it was forced to make a sudden stop after the latter came into its path. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft went further onto the taxiway than it was authorised to, which led to the path of the Lufthansa plane being blocked despite it having the right-of-way.

In aviation terms, the airline crew failed to "hold short", which means stopping a plane completely behind a specified line on the ground to stay clear of an active runway or another taxiway. Simple Flying reported that the Lufthansa crew showed quick thinking and stopped before a collision occurred. Audio recordings of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) communication were posted online, capturing the high-stress, tense exchange between the controllers and pilots as they dealt with the potential safety hazard.

High-stress interaction between ATC and pilots

Audio recordings posted online show a high-stress, tense exchange between Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the pilots as they dealt with the potential safety hazard. American had just arrived from Philadelphia (PHL) and turned into their path. The Lufthansa crew is reportedly contemplating filing a report, as "that was very close to an accident in the making" and that it "made every wrong turn possible already."

Lufthansa flight LH463 flies from Miami back to Lufthansa's main hub at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) in Germany every day. aeroTELEGRAPH reported that the incident happened on November 5. Detailed interactions with the air traffic control show the pilots saying that they "had to make a full stop at full taxi speed" on the way to the runway.

Meanwhile, Flightradar24 data shows that LH463 was scheduled to depart from Miami at 4:40 pm. However, on November 5, it started pushing back until 5:00 pm and waited a long time to taxi. American Airlines flight AA1155 landed at 5:15 pm. Lufthansa's 747 was eventually delayed and took off 53 minutes late at 5:33 pm.