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AUDIO captured the moment panicked air traffic control officers urged a Southwest jet to stop as it tried to take off on a taxiway.
Chaos erupted as the passenger plane was about to leave Orlando airport for Albany, New York, on Thursday.
The mishap is just the latest aviation incident that has been seen in North America in recent months.
ATC officers were stunned when the Southwest plane seemed to be performing a takeoff roll on the taxiway.
Planes crawl down taxiways when they leave their gate and head toward the runway.
Audio, obtained by the ABC affiliate WFAA-TV, shows ATC workers urging the plane to stop.
“3278 stop. Stop, Southwest 3278 stop,” an officer said.
“Cancel takeoff clearance.
“You’re on hotel taxiway Southwest 3278.”
Moments later, the pilot responded: “Southwest 3278. Yes sir, we stopped.”
Southwest officials confirmed the Boeing 737-800 jet returned to the gate and passengers were put on a different plane.
The Southwest 3278 flight ended up departing for Albany almost four hours late.
It arrived in New York’s state capital just after 3:30pm local time.
Southwest officials revealed there were no injuries.
The mishap is just the latest that has rocked the aviation industry in the US.
Last month, a Southwest plane, which was preparing to land at Chicago’s Midway airport, narrowly averted a crash with a private jet.
Recent ‘cluster’ of plane crashes
A number of recent plane crashes in the US have left Americans terrified of traveling by air.
However, aviation expert and attorney Jason Matzus told The U.S. Sun the crashes can be attributed to “random clustering.”
“While these events are tragic, the likely explanation is simply ‘random clustering,’ which occurs when multiple crashes occur over a short period, warping our general perception and causing us to think that there is an increasing trend in plane crashes,” Matzus said.
“When in reality these crashes, despite being so close together, are merely coincidental and not caused by a systemic safety issue.”
The short period Matzus is referring to is just a matter of three weeks. The recent aviation mishaps include:
January 29 – A military helicopter and American Airlines plane collided at the Washington DC airport and killed 67 people
January 31 – An air ambulance carrying a six-year-old girl and her mom crashed onto a street in Philadelphia, killing seven people in total
February 5 – A Japan Airlines flight hit a parked Delta plane at Seattle SeaTac Airport and no one was injured
February 6 – A small commuter plane on its way to Nome, Alaska, crashed and killed all 10 people on board
February 10 – Motley Crue singer Vince Neil’s private jet collided into another plane, killing the pilot and injuring four others
February 17 – A Delta plane crashed onto the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport, miraculously killing no one but injuring 21
February 19 – Two planes collided at Marana Airport in Arizona, killing two people
February 24 – Smoke filled a Delta Airlines flight cabin, forcing passengers to evacuate by an emergency slide after making an emergency landing in Atlanta.
March 9 – A Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft crashed into a retirement village parking lot in Manheim, Pennsylvania.
March 13 – An American Airlines’ jet engine erupted into flames at the Denver airport, forcing passengers to escape onto the plane’s wing.
The private jet appeared to come into the Southwest plane’s travel path.
In a desperate move, the Southwest crew abandoned its attempt to land, veering back up into the air.
Officials at the Federal Aviation Administration pinned the blame on the private plane.
Several plane crashes were reported across North America in February.
In Seattle, a Japan Airlines plane crashed into a Delta jet, leaving it with a gash in its tail.
That incident happened just weeks after 67 people were killed in the collision involving an American Airlines plane and Black Hawk helicopter.
The collision happened as the American Airlines jet was about to land at Reagan airport in Virginia.
SPATE OF PLANE DISASTERS
Sixty four people on board the passenger plane were killed in the disaster that saw the aircraft plunge into the Potomac River.
Ten people on board a commuter plane in Alaska were killed after it vanished off the coast.
Crews eventually discovered the wreckage after navigating icy terrain.
On February 17, a Delta plane that had left Minnesota, crashed on the runway at Toronto Pearson airport.
Passengers on board the plane said they were left hanging like bats.
The plane flipped on its roof, but no one was killed.
A preliminary report revealed the plane was coming into land at high speed before a landing gear broke.
Transportation Safety officials in Canada also revealed a wing detached and jet fuel sparked a fire.
