A "near-miss" incident in which an Aer Lingus airbus taking off from Boston's Logan airport came within 171 feet of another aircraft is being investigated by the US transport authority.
It happened on June 9th when the Aer Lingus Airbus A330 with 300 passengers and 13 crew was taking off from the airport at 198 mph. A US Airways jet travelling at 167mph was also taking off.
The two crews were instructed by air traffic controllers to take off within five minutes of each other. The aircraft came within 171 feet of each other where two runways cross.
The Aer Lingus airbus was on its way to Shannon and then Dublin. It continued its flight but reported the incident to the US National Transportation Safety Board NTSB.
The NTSB is now undertaking a full investigation into the incident.
Yesterday an Aer Lingus spokesman said: "Aer Lingus is co-operating with the NTSB in its investigations and pending the outcome, we will not be making any further comment."
According to US reports, there have been other near-miss incidents at Logan airport, including one last Monday when a cargo plane crossed the path of a passenger jet which was waiting to take off.
Two other similar incidents on its runways have been reported in recent months.