Huh: Southwest 737 Tries To Take Off From Taxiway In Orlando

A Southwest Airlines jet attempted to take off from a taxiway yesterday, somehow mistaking it for a runway… in broad daylight. We’ve seen a lot of concerning close calls lately, though this is easily one of the most puzzling.

Southwest jet accelerates to 70 knots on taxiway

This incident happened on Thursday, March 20, 2025, and involves Southwest flight WN3278, scheduled to operate from Orlando (MCO) to Albany (ALB), with a 9:25AM departure. The flight was operated by a Boeing 737-800 with the registration code N8315C.

The incident happened at around 9:30AM. The flight was supposed to have a super straightforward departure. At Orlando Airport, Southwest departs from airside 2, and the plane was supposed to take off from runway 17R, a very short distance away.

However, rather than taking off from runway 17R, the aircraft began its takeoff roll on taxiway H, which is parallel to the runway, just one turn too early. Below is a map that can help you visualize this, with my very low tech boxes and arrows (the left arrow is where the plane tried to take off, the right arrow is where it was supposed to take off).