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Author Topic: Southwest flight from Portland to Baltimore took off from closed runway  (Read 6480 times)

Offline KB4TEZ

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https://airlive.net/emergency/2024/06/28/breaking-southwest-wn4805-took-off-from-runway-still-closed-and-being-inspected-at-portland/

Portland opens to traffic at 05:45am, SW took off at 5:34am
He probably got a phone number to call.

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 took off from a closed runway at Portland Airport which reportedly had a ground services vehicle on it at the time.

According to The Aviation Herald, the Southwest flight #WN4805 departed from Portland at 09:43 UTC

Southwest flight from Portland to Baltimore took off from closed runway on Tuesday, June 25 2024.
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 took off from a closed runway at Portland Airport which reportedly had a ground services vehicle on it at the time.

According to The Aviation Herald, the Southwest flight #WN4805 departed from Portland at 09:43 local time while the runway runway 29 was still closed until 09:45.


The Boeing 737-79P (registration N7861J) reportedly flew over an airport ground vehicle that was carrying out an inspection of the runway before it was due to open.

 time while the runway runway 29 was still closed until 09:45 UTC.  Airport Operations can be heard opening the runway on tower frequency about two minutes after Southwest’s departure. Tower controllers confirmed they never allowed the Southwest flight to use the runway 29.



Offline RonR

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Just so there's no confusion since it's not immediately obvious, SWA4805 departed from the Portland International Jetport (KPWM) in Maine and not the Portland International Airport (KPDX) in Oregon.  I would expect that there was a NOTAM regarding the runway closure.  The ATIS at the time also mentioned that the runway was closed...