Officials are investigating a close call at a New York airport on Friday night between a plane that was crossing a runway and another that was preparing for takeoff.

“(Expletive)! Delta 1943, cancel takeoff clearance! Delta 1943, cancel takeoff clearance!” an air controller said in an audio recording of Air Traffic Control communications when he noticed the other plane, operated by American Airlines, crossing in front.

The recording was made by LiveATC, a website that monitors and posts flight communications. Delta Air Lines’ departing Boeing 737 plane then came to a “safe stop” on the JFK International Airport runway as the other crossed in front, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

“I think the controller made a good call to reject the takeoff,” said John Cox, a retired pilot and professor of aviation safety at the University of Southern California. He said the rejected takeoff safety manoeuvre, which is when pilots stop the aircraft and discontinue the takeoff, is one they are “very, very familiar with”. “Pilots practice rejected takeoff almost every time they get to the simulator,” he said.