Near collision at JFK

Close call. Language barrier?

What in the world?

Did that pilot of Aerogal B767 realy know what he was doing or did he have a mental block at that moment in time? to get it so wrong.

Remember, Runways 13L and 13R are parallel runways and this took place at night. Lots of flashing lights, rotating beacons, moving cars with flashing lights, and the overall lighting of the area and a pilot that may fly into the airport on a less than routine basis, it would be easy to mix up the runways. I have always wondered why they paint the numbers on the end of a runway, but never put lights up to identify the runways at night.

Kudos to alert controller. Too many stories of controller inattention for various reasons, some good and some not so good.

Kudos to the Delta pilot - he's the unsung hero in this one!