The National Transportation Safety Board stated on Wednesday that the wing of a twin-engine Hawker aircraft impacted the tail of a twin-engine Cessna that had just landed at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. The pilot had been instructed to line up and wait for departure, but instead he began rolling on a runway.
NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson stated that the Hawker aircraft took off and then returned to the runway, although it was unclear at the time whether the pilot misheard the order to hold on.
“We’re very interested in that, but we haven’t verified it,” Knudson remarked.
According to the NTSB, none of the eight occupants on board the two aircraft—three on the Hawker and five on the Cessna—were hurt.
A six-person investigative team was dispatched to the airport on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the NTSB on X, and a preliminary report on the crash is anticipated within 30 days.
The NTSB stated that it could take up to two years to finish the probable cause report for the incident that occurred Tuesday afternoon.
ABC-13 reports that during the more than three-hour shutdown, 78 planes were diverted and 54 cancelled out of the airport southeast of downtown.
The Biden administration said in September that it will provide $26 million to address the issue in response to a series of recent near misses at airports across the country. The funds will be used for automated systems that notify air traffic controllers when aircraft are approaching the incorrect runway, among other new safety precautions.