Southwest flight from Portland to Baltimore took off from closed runway on Tuesday, June 25 2024.
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 took off from a closed runway at Portland Airport which reportedly had a ground services vehicle on it at the time.
According to The Aviation Herald, the Southwest flight #WN4805 departed from Portland at 09:43 local time while the runway runway 29 was still closed until 09:45.
The Boeing 737-79P (registration N7861J) reportedly flew over an airport ground vehicle that was carrying out an inspection of the runway before it was due to open.
PWM 06/168 PWM RWY 11/29 CLSD EXC XNG AND TAX THU FRI MON TUE WED 0230-0945 2406200230-2407310945
NOTAM issued on 06/20/2024 0138 UTC
The runway 11/29 was closed until 09:45 local time excepting for taxiing and crossing. Only the runway 18/36 was available.
Airport Operations can be heard opening the runway on tower frequency about two minutes after Southwest’s departure. Tower controllers confirmed they never allowed the Southwest flight to use the runway 29.