Air Canada flight to Toronto abruptly ordered to 'stop' in U.S. runway scare

An Air Canada Express flight that was bound for Toronto this week was abruptly ordered by air traffic control to stop just a few seconds after it received clearance to take off at a U.S. airport, at the same time as another aircraft was approaching the runway to land.

The incident took place on Tuesday morning at Lambert St. Louis International Airport in Missouri, where the Air Canada Express flight, operating as AC8886, was preparing for its departure to Pearson Airport.

The flight, which was operated by Jazz Aviation, had already been cleared to take off from the runway when an air traffic controller abruptly cancelled the clearance, as a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 was approaching the runway to land.

According to audio shared by aviation YouTube channel VASAviation, the control tower gave clearance to the Southwest flight before instructing Air Canada to proceed with its takeoff on the same runway.

Realizing what was about to happen, the controller then quickly began reversing its instruction, repeatedly telling the Air Canada flight crew, "Jazz 8, stop, stop, Jazz stop. Jazz stop, Jazz stop, STOP JAZZ!"

Luckily, the Air Canada pilots acknowledged the instructions and confirmed they were "holding position." A few moments later, the Southwest crew asked the tower to confirm if they were still cleared to land, and after being given the green light, the Boeing 737 landed on the runway soon after without any injuries.

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the Air Canada flight stopped before reaching the hold-short line, which marks the boundary between a taxiway and a runway. "The required separation was maintained," the FAA added.

The near-incident comes a few months after another Air Canada Express flight was involved in a fatal runway collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport. On March 22, flight AC8646, arriving from Montreal with 76 people on board, struck a fire truck on a runway shortly after landing, killing both of the pilots.