Originally Posted by
Jeff767
All of the above will be looked at by the FAA. They will likely recreate what the 737 crew could see. It will also be interesting to see what runway the 777 crew anticipated using. Both 31L and 4L were in use for departures. It’s a very common runway configuration. Domestic southbound traffic departs from 31L at Intersection KE and international traffic typically departs 4L. The departure runway would have been loaded at the gate in the FMS and again verified when the actual weight and balance data was entered and when the departure was briefed.
Thanks for clarifying this because from what I keep reading it sounds like 4L was the only departure runway in use that evening. I guess AA106 was supposed to take off on 4L, but FlightAware shows it still ended up taking off on 31L, then made an odd loop around the airport.