An aviation expert comments on a close call incident at MCO airport – it seems like someone wasn’t paying attention.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A day after a plane nearly took off from a taxiway as opposed to a runway at Orlando International Airport, a local pilot who is seasoned in aircraft training says he has many questions for the pilots of that flight.

“It’s pretty easy to see that this is not a runway,” said John William Tenney, a pilot for decades and the owner of Experienced Pilot Services in Orlando.

Tenney sat in the flight simulator in his office, as he showed News 6 the path Southwest Flight 3278 took before taking off from MCO.

On the screen, he pointed out a taxiway on the right.

“They went forward,” Tenney said. “And they turned here.”

Tenney was pointing to taxiway H, which runs parallel to runway 17R — the runway from which the plane was supposed to depart.

Taxiways, which are used by planes to travel between gates and runways, feature yellow lines that distinguish them from runways, which have white lines.

“I’m guessing somebody wasn’t looking where they should’ve been looking,” Tenney opined.

Southwest released a statement acknowledging that the crew on Flight 3278 “mistook the surface for the nearby runway.”

“No injuries were reported,” the statement continued. “Southwest is engaged with the NTSB and FAA to understand the circumstances of the event. The airline accommodated customers on another aircraft to their intended destination of Albany. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”

The incident is the latest in a series of notable mishaps involving planes in the sky and on the ground.

Despite the recent outsized attention on air travel, Tenney told News 6 he is confident it is just as safe to fly today as it was one year ago.

“The most dangerous part of your airline flight is your drive to the airport,” he said.

Tenney also suggested that while the incident at MCO is confounding, it’s not a foregone conclusion that had the plane departed from the taxiway, the flight would have ended in disaster.

“Between you me and the lamp post, they could’ve taken off from there safely,” Tenney said. “I mean, it’s not allowed. It’s against the rules.”

Tenney noted, however, that the situation would have grown dangerous if another plane was taxiing while Flight 3278 was preparing to take off from the taxiway.