A Southwest Airlines flight had a close call when it nearly took off from the airport’s taxiway rather than the proper runway.
The incident occurred on March 20 at Orlando International Airport in Florida and was confirmed in separate statements by Southwest Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) .
Flight 3278 was bound for Albany, NY. As it attempted to take off on Thursday around 9:30 a.m. local time, the plane’s crew apparently “mistook the surface for the nearby runway,” according to Southwest. The FAA explained that the “aircraft began its takeoff roll on a taxiway,” before an air traffic controller at the airport “canceled the takeoff clearance.”…