Airplane narrowly avoids hitting van crossing runway in Missouri airport

close

Video

Plane narrowly misses van crossing runway

Raw video: NTSB investigating incident at Springfield-Branson National Airport where a van with workers drove across the runway and narrowly missed a plane taking off.

A jetliner taking off at Springfield-Branson National Airport narrowly missed hitting an airport van crossing the runway driven by an employee running late to a barbecue.

Surveillance video at the Missouri airport shows a dark van crossing over the runway – just seconds before an Envoy Air jet carrying 50 passengers and three crew members takes off from the same runaway.

No one was injured in the June 27 incident.

In a report obtained by the Springfield News-Leader, the van’s driver, Jim Brown, said he and two other people were taking the van to an airport employee barbecue.

AIRLINE EMPLOYEE WHO STOLE PLANE FROM SEATAC AIRPORT WAS 'AUTHORIZED' TO BE NEAR CRAFT

“I decided that due to the time limitations we would cross the runway in order to make it in time,” he wrote in the report. “Just as I had cleared runway 20 the Ground Controller cleared me to cross runway 14, I repeated back cleared to cross runway 14 and proceeded at a high rate of speed (to minimize time on the taxiway and runway) down taxiway Uniform.”

Brown went on to say that he generally looks at both ends of the runway before cross but “I honestly cannot say for sure that I looked both ways or how far down the runway I might have looked.”

It wasn’t until another employee sitting in the passenger seat yelled out that Brown saw the plane approaching, he said.

UNITED FLIGHT ABORTS TAKEOFF AT PHOENIX AIRPORT: 'PILOT SLAMMED ON THE BRAKES', PASSENGER SAYS

“I accelerated across the runway and heard the aircraft overhead just as we were leaving the runway surface,” Brown added.

In the report, Brown said he confirmed with other passengers if they had heard that his van was cleared to cross the runway, to which both “stated that he did clear us to cross runway 14.”

Brown said he immediately reported this incident to the airport operations supervisor.

The airport on Wednesday issued a statement that an internal review is underway and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

“The airport takes safety very seriously. As such, we are reviewing internal operating procedures that may have contributed to this incident,” airport spokesman Kent Boyd said in a statement. “The driver of the van is an airport employee. We cannot comment further because the incident is under investigation and in addition, we do not comment about personnel matters.”