Pilot apparently ignored air control orders to halt take-off due to incoming Romanian aircraft.
A Turkish aircraft nearly collided with another plane on the runway at Ben Gurion International Airport on Thursday, after it apparently ignored repeated control tower warnings to wait in position.
Traffic controllers had told the Corendon Airlines plane to delay its take-off by 12 minutes, due to an incoming Romanian aircraft. Airport officials confirmed that despite repeated warnings, the Turkish plane failed to stop at the waiting point, and continued in transit for take off.
Air traffic control delayed the landing of the Romanian flight as they noticed the Turkish mistake. The head of air traffic control reported the incident to the relevant authorities and the director general of air safety, Yitzak Raz, will follow through with an inquiry.
The Ben Gurion airport has been functioning with a single runway since last month, due to construction on the other runways.
