Envoy E175 at Houston Hobby starts takeoff without clearance

An Envoy Embraer ERJ-175 on behalf of American Airlines, registration N258NN performing flight MQ-3338/AA-3338 from Houston Hobby,TX to Dallas Ft. Worth,TX (USA), was cleared to line up runway 13R and wait, however, commenced their takeoff roll.

At that time a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration N8725L performing flight WN-2683 from Austin,TX to Houston Hobby,TX (USA), was on short final to Houston’s runway 04, which intersects with runway 13R, at about 20:17L (02:17Z Mar 6th).

Tower instructed the Embraer to stop and the Boeing to go around resolving the conflict as the Boeing went around from very low height (below 100 feet AGL) and the Embraer slowed. The Embraer was subsequently instructed to vacate runway 13R to their left onto taxiway H about 220 meters/720 feet short of the intersection with runway 04 and was provided with a phone number to call.

The Boeing positioned for another approach and landed safely on runway 04 about 9 minutes after the go around.

The FAA reported on Mar 13th 2023: “The crew of Envoy Air Flight 3338 began their takeoff roll without clearance on March 5 at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston as Southwest Airlines Flight 2863 was cleared to land on an intersecting runway. At the direction of an air traffic controller, Envoy stopped short of the intersecting runway and Southwest discontinued its landing. The closest proximity of the two aircraft was approximately 4,100 feet.” avherald.com