The captain of a FedEx cargo plane cleared to land at Austin Bergstrom Airport last month was concerned about the presence of a Southwest jet on the runway below.
The Boeing 767 cargo plane was several miles from the airport when it was cleared to land, according to the FAA, but just before it was scheduled to land, an air traffic controller also gave the green light for the Southwest Boeing 737 to take off on the exact same tarmac route.
According to federal investigators, the pilot requested and received confirmation that he was ready to land. But as the FedEx plane made its way through foggy conditions to the runway, the flight’s first officer decided not to attempt to complete the landing given the closeness of combat in the Southwest.
“Southwest Abort,” transmitted the FedEx crew, according to the federal report. “FedEx is on the way.”
The two planes appeared to be 75 vertical feet apart, although the NTSB continues to investigate the minimum separation distance between the planes.
This model shows how close the two planes came to an unscheduled meeting on the runway
Graphics of the near miss show how close the FedEx plane and passenger flight Southwest collided on the runway
The FedEx plane suddenly had to pull up and managed to climb several hundred feet in a matter of seconds as the crew averted the disaster
The FedEx plane climbed back into the sky from the 128-passenger Southwest flight, which continued its takeoff toward Cancun. The FedEx plane landed safely shortly thereafter.
The incident is one of a growing handful of tight airport cases being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The latest incident happened on Monday when a JetBlue pilot had to dodge a Learjet that crossed the runway as the first plane was about to land.
So far, the incidents have not caused any injuries, but the close encounters have raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill and prompted the acting chief of the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a memo in February calling for a renewed focus on safety by the industry, according to the Washington Post guides .
The NTSB report doesn’t specify what might have caused the near-call on the Austin runway, but did mention that visibility was limited due to fog. However, traffic at the airport was restricted at the time.
In an initial tweet on Saturday, the National Transportation Safety Board used jargon to downplay the incident, describing it as a “possible runway incursion and overflying by Southwest Airlines and FedEx aircraft.”
The incident happened in Austin early Saturday morning during poor visibility.
The FAA said FedEx Express Flight 1432, a Boeing 767 cargo plane that departed from Memphis, was cleared to land on Runway 18-Links at about 6:40 a.m. while the plane was several miles from the airport.
The Southwest plane had not yet taken off when the FedEx plane approached the runway.
Southwest has so far declined to comment. FedEx said its flight “landed safely after encountering an incident,” but declined to comment further due to the ongoing investigation.
“FedEx Express Flight 1432 from Memphis, Tennessee to Austin, Texas has landed safely after encountering an event just prior to landing at Austin Bergstrom International Airport this morning,” FedEx said in a statement.
Austin Airport said it was aware of the Federal Aviation Administration’s investigation into a flight’s aborted landing. We will assist our FAA partners and their investigations as needed.’
In addition to the JetBlue and FedEx incidents, another close call was averted at John F. Kennedy International Airport last month after an American Airlines plane crossed a runway while a Delta Airlines Boeing 737 was preparing for takeoff on Jan. 13 prepared.
Air traffic controllers noticed that a Boeing 777 had crossed from an adjacent taxiway.
The FAA said the Delta Boeing 737 halted its takeoff run about 1,000 feet before reaching the point where American Airlines Flight 106 had crossed.
The FedEx cargo plane was just landing at Austin Bergstrom Airport when it was forced to stop
At one point, only 75 feet appeared to separate the two planes, according to FlightRadar24
The FedEx plane climbed back into the sky from the 128-passenger Southwest flight, which continued its takeoff toward Cancun.
Data from flight-tracking websites suggests that the two planes did, in fact, come very close. Pictured is the FedEx cargo plane’s route where it had to abort landing and then circle the airport
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said two planes were less than 100 feet apart in a near miss in Austin on Saturday
After the first near miss, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, explained how close the planes came to disaster and said investigators are investigating how the incident happened.
The Boeing 767 approached the runway with poor visibility while a Southwest Boeing 737 was cleared to take off.
Homendy told Politico, “We’re really digging into the communications between them [air traffic control]Southwest, FedEx – especially on weather issues.’
She said it was “pretty clear the planes were very close together and we believe it’s less than 100 feet.”