NEWS: Southwest Flight Diverted From Taking Off at Wrong Location at Orlando International Airport

It sure seems like we’re hearing a lot about flight mishaps these days.

Not only have we seen a ton of flight delays and even cancelations (generally due to weather), but we’ve also seen instances of diverted flights due to passenger behavior, passengers being evacuated from planes, and more. Now, according to CNN, we’ve learned that air traffic controllers at Orlando International Airport recently stopped a Southwest flight from taking off from the taxiway.

The pilots of a Boeing 737 on a Southwest Airlines flight started to take off from a taxiway at Orlando International Airport on Thursday before an air traffic controller stopped them. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently investigating the incident.

The taxiway at an airport is just what its name infers: it’s a lane at the airport that’s meant for airplanes to “taxi” to a runway. A taxiway is not where a plane should ever take off — it’s merely a path for a plane to get to the runway, which is designed for flights taking off and landing.

Here’s how the situation played out. Southwest Airlines Flight 3278 (bound for Albany, NY) received clearance to take off from Orlando International Airport. The plane, though, began to accelerate on a taxi parallel to the runway instead. As a result, an air traffic controller canceled the clearance and contacted the plane’s pilots to tell them to stop. The pilots then hit the brakes and brought the plane to a stop.

“The crew mistook the surface for the nearby runway,” Southwest said in a statement. “Southwest is engaged with the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and FAA to understand the circumstances of the event.”

The plane stopped safely and there were no injuries reported. No other aircraft were involved either. The airline later flew the plane’s passengers to Albany on a different plane.

Although these incidents are concerning, CNN reports that experts still believe flying is one of the safest modes of transportation. According to Anthony Brickhouse, a US-based aviation safety expert, “Statistically speaking, you’re safer in your flight than you were driving in your car to the airport.”

Stay tuned to DFB for more.