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Southwest Airlines Plane And Cessna Near Collision Investigated By US FAA
(CTN News) – Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 and a Cessna Citation business jet came within inches of colliding in San Diego on Saturday, the latest in a string of troubling incidents involving a U.S. airliner.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it is investigating the near collision as part of its ongoing investigation.
As a preliminary result of FAA’s preliminary review, it appears that the accident occurred just before 12 p.m.
The Citation was cleared to land by an air traffic controller at San Diego International Airport on Friday, even though Southwest Airlines Flight 2493 had already been instructed to taxi onto the same runway and await instructions on how to depart by the same air traffic controller.
During the landing, the automated surface surveillance system at the facility alerted the controller that the situation was developing, and so the controller instructed the Cessna to cease landing.
The person who has been briefed on the matter says the initial review of the crash shows the Cessna flew about 100 feet higher than the Southwest Airlines aircraft at the time.
An investigation team will be sent to the facility by the FAA for the purpose of determining what happened.
The Southwest Airlines said on Saturday that it is participating in the FAA’s investigation into the incident. In a statement, the airline said, “Our aircraft departed without incident and the flight followed its normal schedule, with a safe landing in San Jose as scheduled.”
There have been six runway incursions since January, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The near-collision occurred in February in Austin, Texas, when a FedEx (NYSE:FDX) cargo plane and a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 came within 35 meters of each other in poor visibility conditions and came within 115 feet (35 meters).
A FedEx plane had been cleared for landing and a Southwest Airlines plane had been cleared for departure by the controller.
An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board disclosed Thursday that a Lear 60 charter pilot failed to obtain a takeoff clearance for his plane in a February incident in Boston that resulted in a near-collision with a JetBlue flight.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the airport surface detection equipment produced an alert, and the air traffic controller gave instructions to JetBlue flight to perform a go-around as a result.
JetBlue Embraer 190 was just 30 feet (9.1 m) above ground when it broke off the landing at an intersection between both runways, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The tower in Boston told the charter pilot the JetBlue flight had passed about 400 feet above them when it broke off the landing, the board said.
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