Delta Jet Climbs From 100 Feet After Unauthorized LaGuardia Takeoff

A Delta Connection regional jet pulled out of its LaGuardia Airport landing at roughly 100 feet after a private jet began taking off on an intersecting runway without clearance. The go-around stopped the arriving aircraft from continuing toward the runway crossing, and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

The October 7 encounter unfolded at about 3:55 p.m. as Delta flight DL5415 approached Runway 22. The flight, operated by Endeavor Air with a Bombardier CRJ900, had arrived from Omaha Eppley Airfield. At the same time, a NetJets Embraer Phenom 300 operating for ExecJet as EJA398 accelerated along intersecting Runway 13.

Flight-tracking data placed the CRJ900 at approximately 128 knots as it descended to around 100 feet above the runway. The Phenom 300 was moving at about 90 knots. The same data indicated that the aircraft came within roughly 1,000 feet of each other, although the FAA had not published an official closest-approach measurement.

The go-around broke the developing conflict

With one aircraft descending toward Runway 22 and the other accelerating for departure on Runway 13, their ground-level paths led toward the runway intersection. The Delta crew added power and transitioned from descent to climb before touching down, preventing the CRJ900 from continuing along its landing path.

A go-around is a standard escape option when a landing cannot be completed safely. It is designed into normal airline procedures rather than reserved for emergencies, but its timing shapes the available margin. In this case, the maneuver reportedly began with only about 100 feet of altitude remaining before the runway.

The FAA’s airport-operations guidance identifies congestion, aircraft transitioning between climb and descent, and cockpit workload as factors that increase accident potential near airports. Those pressures converge around intersecting-runway operations, where the safe sequence depends on aircraft moving only when authorized and crews sharing an accurate understanding of each clearance.

The crews and controller disagreed over the clearance

Air traffic control recordings indicate that the private-jet crew believed it had been cleared to depart. After the aircraft took off, the controller told the crew: “I believe you were never cleared for takeoff, sir. You were cleared to line up and wait.” The pilot disputed that account, responding that “we got cleared for takeoff.”

The two instructions authorize materially different actions. “Line up and wait” allows an aircraft to enter the assigned runway and hold in position. It does not authorize the crew to begin its takeoff roll. FAA guidance requires a clearance before takeoff and directs pilots to seek clarification when an instruction is not understood.

The FAA subsequently said the Phenom 300 “departed on an intersecting runway without air traffic control authorization.” Its investigation will need to examine the full radio exchange, the readbacks and how the private-jet crew formed its understanding that a takeoff clearance had been issued.

The FAA has not assigned a severity category

The reported 1,000-foot distance and the low-altitude go-around do not by themselves determine the event’s formal classification. The FAA’s runway-incursion framework ranges from Category D events with no immediate safety consequences to Category A serious incidents in which a collision was narrowly avoided. Category B covers reduced separation with significant collision potential that can require a time-critical corrective response.

The agency had not publicly assigned a category when details of the incident emerged. The FAA now evaluates runway-environment events through its Surface Safety Metric and Surface Safety Risk Index, which consider outcomes and proximity to severe consequences. Its Aviation Risk Identification and Assessment tools can use surveillance data to examine the lateral, vertical and speed relationships between moving aircraft and other objects.

The incident came months after an Air Canada Express CRJ900 collided with an airport fire truck at LaGuardia on March 22, killing both pilots and injuring dozens. The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary findings said the truck had erroneously been cleared to cross while the aircraft was on short final. That collision involved a different reported sequence and should not be treated as having the same cause as the October event.

For the latest encounter, the unresolved issue is why the private-jet crew believed it had permission to take off when the controller and FAA say it did not. The immediate safety layer that worked is already visible: at about 100 feet, the Delta crew abandoned the landing and climbed away before the two runway paths could fully converge.

By David Whitaker — Associate editor for AMI’s aerospace and drone systems desk, translating flight systems, aircraft programs, spaceflight, and UAV developments into accessible technical stories.