WASHINGTON, May 20, (AP): When a passenger jet roaring down the runway toward takeoff at New York's LaGuardia Airport had to slam on the brakes earlier this month because another plane was still on the runway, Renee Hoffer and all the other passengers were thrown forward in their seats. Hoffer wound up in the emergency room the next day after the near miss on May 6 because her neck started hurting and her left arm went numb.

"The stop was as hard as any car accident I've been in,” Hoffer said. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that they are investigating the incident in which a Republic Airways jet had to abort takeoff and slam to a stop because a United Airlines plane was still taxiing across the runway.

The close call happened despite the airport being equipped with an advanced surface radar system that’s designed to help prevent such close calls. In audio from the tower that ABC obtained from the website www.LiveATC.net, the air traffic controller said to the pilot of the Republic Airways jet: "Sorry, I thought United had cleared well before that.” At the time that controller was directing the Republic Airways jet to takeoff, a ground controller on a different radio frequency was directing the United plane to a new taxiway after it missed the first one it was supposed to use to exit the runway.

A t the time that controller was directing the Republic Airways jet to takeoff, a ground controller on a different radio frequency was directing the United plane to a new taxiway after it missed the first one it was supposed to use to exit the runway. When the passengers got off the plane after the close call at 12:35 a.m., Hoffer said the gate agents refused to even give them hotel vouchers for the night because they blamed the weather even though another passenger said she had an app on her phone that showed another plane was on the runway.

Hoffer said she's been stuck in a customer service nightmare since the flight Republic was operating for American Airlines ended abruptly. She said neither the airline nor the FAA has answered her complaints while she continues to nurse the pinched nerve in her neck that the ER doctors identified. Both the airlines and the airport referred questions to the FAA.