A Learjet pilot thought he was cleared to take off. He wasn’t. Luckily, JetBlue pilots saw him

By DAVID KOENIG
AP Airlines Writer

Federal investigators say the pilot of a charter jet took off without permission, causing an approaching JetBlue plane to cancel its landing at the last second. The incident happened at Boston’s Logan International Airport in February. The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that the charter captain heard air traffic controllers tell him to wait, “but in his mind, they were cleared for takeoff.” The plane was operated for charter company Hop-A-Jet. Air traffic controllers say the JetBlue Embraer plane pulled up and passed about 400 feet over the Hop-A-Jet Learjet. The incident is one of several earlier this year that have raised alarms about aviation safety in the U.S.