This reminds me of another awful ATC command, but this was much worse.

Under heavy fog, United Airlines 1448 gets lost on the taxiways of T.F. Green airport in Providence, RI. The inadvertently end up back on an active runway. In fairness, they were totally confused, and gave wrong information, and took wrong turns to have done this. They are cleared to cross what ATC thinks is the inactive runway. Meanwhile, FedEx 1662 is on the active runway is cleared for takeoff.

Our best guess is that 1662 missed 1448 by maybe a couple dozen feet.

You can hear the roar of 1662 which took off just over their heads on 1448's radio.

This proceeds to cause an argument with ATC and UA 1448, where ATC claims that despite what they are seeing, they aren't on an active runway. Then she says, arguably, the single worst thing that could have been said by any human being at that moment:

"US Air 2998, Runway 5-Right, fly runway heading. Cleared for takeoff."

US Air 2998 has just been cleared to fly directly into the side of UA 1448, which would likely kill everyone on both planes.

"Ma'am, I'm trying to advise you we're on an active runway! United 1448."

Undeterred by the protestations of people who just saw a plane almost kill them, ATC tells them they are on an entirely different and inactive runway.

In the most infamous disaster in aviation history, similar conditions caused a Pan Am flight to crash nearly head on with a KLM flight in Tenerife airport. It was the largest death toll of any aviation accident in history, killing over 500 people. The KLM pilot should have known that the Pan Am plane was on the runway, but decided to interpret his own takeoff clearance, and head down full speed. The co-pilot was confused, but just went with it anyway, only realizing the fatality of his mistake to speak up a few seconds before impact. Both flight crews were killed.

I like to think that the pilot of US Air 2998 knew this in the back of his mind when he refused take-off clearance.

"[broken radio traffic]... he is, but we're staying clear of all active runways until he- we figure this out."

ATC would then clear US Air 2998 again for take off; and again, they explicitly refuse.

Once finally forced to recognize that the lost plane on the active runway should be her top priority, ATC promptly tries to re-orient UA 1448 back to the airport, discovering in the process that, yes, they are on an active runway.

God Bless you, US Air 2998.

You probably saved not only your own lives, but probably over 200 people that day.

This reminds me of another awful ATC command, but this was much worse.

Under heavy fog, United Airlines 1448 gets lost on the taxiways of T.F. Green airport in Providence, RI. The inadvertently end up back on an active runway. In fairness, they were totally confused, and gave wrong information, and took wrong turns to have done this. They are cleared to cross what ATC thinks is the inactive runway. Meanwhile, one of the aircraft on the active runway is cleared for takeoff.

Our best guess is that the aircraft missed 1448 by maybe a couple dozen feet.

You can hear the roar of the plane which took off just over their heads on 1448's radio.

This proceeds to cause an argument with ATC and UA 1448, where ATC claims that despite what they are seeing, they aren't on an active runway. Then she says, arguably, the single worst thing that could have been said by any human being at that moment:

"US Air 2998, Runway 5-Right, fly runway heading. Cleared for takeoff."

US Air 2998 has just been cleared to fly directly into the side of UA 1448, which would likely kill everyone on both planes.

"Ma'am, I'm trying to advise you we're on an active runway! United 1448."

Undeterred by the protestations of people who just saw a plane almost kill them, ATC tells them they are on an entirely different and inactive runway.

In the most infamous disaster in aviation history, similar conditions caused a Pan Am flight to crash nearly head on with a KLM flight in Tenerife airport. It was the largest death toll of any aviation accident in history, killing over 500 people. The KLM pilot should have known that the Pan Am plane was on the runway, but decided to interpret his own takeoff clearance, and head down full speed. The co-pilot was confused, but just went with it anyway, only realizing the fatality of his mistake to speak up a few seconds before impact. Both flight crews were killed.

I like to think that the pilot of US Air 2998 knew this in the back of his mind when he refused take-off clearance.

"[broken radio traffic]... he is, but we're staying clear of all active runways until he- we figure this out."

ATC would then clear US Air 2998 again for take off; and again, they explicitly refuse.

Once finally forced to recognize that the lost plane on the active runway should be her top priority, ATC promptly tries to re-orient UA 1448 back to the airport, discovering in the process that, yes, they are on an active runway.

God Bless you, US Air 2998.

You probably saved not only your own lives, but probably over 200 people that day.