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A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association

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12 NEW ENGLAND NEW ENGLAND REGION REGION Josh Lipkin-Moore was working the Local West position at Boston ATCT (BOS) on a cloudy May evening. The wind was gusting up to 25 knots from the northwest. Aircraft were landing on Runway 27 and departing on Runway 33L, which are intersecting runways. In this configuration, northbound propeller aircraft depart Runway 4R at the intersection of taxiway Charlie, which also intersects Runway 33L, creating one of BOS' more complex departure configurations. Lipkin-Moore instructed Boutique 864 (BTQ864), a Pilatus PC12, to "line up and wait" on Runway 4R at Charlie. He planned for BTQ864 to depart after the next Runway 33L departure — Brickyard 5625 (RPA5625), an Embraer E175. Lipkin-Moore then cleared RPA5625 for takeoff. As RPA5625 accelerated on Runway 33L, Lipkin-Moore noticed the pilot of BTQ864 had begun his takeoff roll instead of holding position on Runway 4R as instructed. "Boutique 864, hold position." Silence. "Boutique 864, STOP." Lipkin-Moore firmly and quickly instructed. "Boutique 864 stopping," the pilot replied. Just in time, the pilot reacted to the instruction and stopped just short of Runway 33L where RPA5625 was departing. Having just prevented a possibly deadly collision, Lipkin-Moore continued working the other traffic with his calm cadence. "In this runway configuration, Runway 4R is a departure only runway," Lipkin-Moore specified. "It can be easy to line up an aircraft there and shift your focus to the two other — seemingly more important — intersecting runways that are in use." Six years working at Boston Logan gave Lipkin-Moore a deep understanding of the nuances of the airport's runway configuration. "Sometimes, when an aircraft lines up on Runway 4R at Charlie, they will scoot up a few feet to allow other aircraft to taxi behind them while they wait to depart. At first, I thought this was the case, but just to verify, I asked them to hold their position." When there was no response, he noticed the aircraft accelerating beyond the taxi speed and told them to stop. Josh Lipkin-Moore Josh Lipkin-Moore Boston ATCT BOS

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