Plane takes off from closed runway at Portland Airport

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed to Total Coverage in Maine that it is investigating after a flight took off from a closed runway at Portland International Airport this week. The FAA says Southwest Airlines Flight 4805 to Baltimore departed from the temporarily closed runway on Tuesday, June 25, at approximately 5:45 a.m. The FAA says an airport vehicle left the runway before the plane began its takeoff. In audio recordings of air traffic control obtained by Total Coverage in Maine, air traffic controllers can be heard saying several times, “Southwest heading to 2-9, just to let you know there is a vehicle runway that is still closed.” Then, moments later, an air traffic controller is heard saying, “I tried to warn him.” Portland tower controllers were unable to communicate with the flight during takeoff and after departure. You can listen to the air traffic control communication recordings, courtesy of LiveATC.net, in the video player below. The takeoff occurred about two minutes before the runway was set to open in the morning. Portland Airports released a statement Friday saying, “We are grateful that airport personnel maintained situational awareness, identified the aircraft entering the runway environment in real time and immediately cleared the airport vehicle from the runway.” The main east/west runway at Portland Airport has been closed between 10:30 p.m. and 5:45 a.m. since April 22 while crews performed runway work. Instead, flights are required to use the north/south runway during those times. Southwest Airlines provided a statement about the incident to Maine’s Total Coverage, saying, “Southwest Airlines is working with the NTSB and FAA to understand the circumstances of Southwest’s early morning departure on Tuesday, June 25, of Flight 4805 from Portland International Airfield. Following departure, the aircraft safely proceeded to its destination.”