"Emirates 202 Heavy Position and ...Actually I Have a Message For You to Go Back to the Gate"

How close did we come to losing NY City terror suspect Faisal Shahzad? The runway controller started to say "Position and Hold", meaning the jet would move into takeoff position at the end of the runway awaiting the "Cleared for Takeoff" call, when she received word to return the jetliner to the gate. Here's the audio (h/t Top of the Ticket):




P.S. for non-pilots the designation "Heavy" is used for any aircraft over a certain weight limit due to the havoc that size aircraft can create in terms of wake turbulence for smaller airplanes operating behind it.  Controllers are required to add additional spacing behind "heavy" aircraft.

UPDATE:  First Read now tells us the plane never left the gate with the terrorist aboard, but was recalled to the gate to rescreen everybody:

There has been some confusion over the actual arrest of Faisal Shahzad last night at JFK and whether the plane left the gate as well as how he was allowed on the plane in the first place.

This is how a law enforcement official explained it to NBC News in the last hour:

Shahzad boarded the plane and the door was closed, but the plane never left the gate, it never moved.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials opened the door back up and boarded the plane, removing Shahzad.

The plane was then cleared to leave the gate and did so. Moments later, officials thought better of it and decided they needed to rescreen passengers and cargo and brought the plane back.

In other words, the plane never actually left the gate with Shahzad on it.