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- The American Airlines crew involved in a near-collision have "refused" to be interviewed by authorities.
- The staff have declined to be interviewed because they would be audio recorded.
- The Allied Pilots Association says it does not allow its members to interviewed while being recorded.
Members of an American Airlines flight crew involved in a near-collision with a Delta plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York have "refused" to sit down for recorded interviews with the National Transport Safety Board, the federal body has said.
The NTSB said that it had attempted to interview the American Airlines flight crew three different times and the airline had even cleared the crew's schedule, it said in a preliminary report released on February 10.
The report said that "the flight crew refused to be interviewed on the basis that their statements would be audio recorded for transcription."
The Allied Pilots Association said on behalf of the crew that it does not consent to audio-recorded interviews in this manner and is instead requiring a court reporter to record and transcribe the interviews to ensure the "highest degree of accuracy, completeness, and efficiency," per the report.
The APA wrote in a blog post: "We firmly believe the introduction of electronic recording devices into witness interviews is more likely to hinder the investigation process than it is to improve it."
As a result of this refusal, the NTSB issued subpoenas to the three flight crew members asking them to provide testimony and giving them seven days to respond.
Additionally, the safety board wrote that it obtained cockpit voice recorder data from the aircraft, but both had been overwritten — meaning that information about how the near-crash happened was missing.
American Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about the interviews. In a statement given to the Wall Street Journal, American Airlines said it is cooperating with the NTSB investigation.
In January, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 was rolling down the runway ready for takeoff when it abruptly stopped and narrowly avoided colliding with the American Airlines Boeing 777 — in an event known as a "runway incursion."
The 153 passengers and six crew members on the Delta plane and 137 passengers and 12 crew members on the American plane were all uninjured, the NTSB's preliminary report said.
The NTSB issued an additional statement shared with Insider saying its investigators frequently use recording devices in interviews, particularly in the case of incidents or accidents.
It said that written statements recieved from the Delta crew have been reviewed and contains "sufficient information for NTSB investigative purposes given their role in the incident."
It added: "The transcripts of each flight crew member's account of the activities and conversation leading up to the runway incursion is particularly important in the absence of a cockpit voice recording."