Federal authorities are investigating a harrowing near collision between a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 and a Cessna Citation business jet at San Diego International Airport on Friday. The incident, which took place shortly before noon, was reportedly caused by a miscommunication between the air traffic controller and the pilots of both aircraft.
A preliminary review revealed that an air traffic controller instructed the Cessna Citation pilot to discontinue landing due to the Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 still on the runway awaiting clearance for departure, as per FOX 5 San Diego and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson Ian Gregor. It was found that the controller had previously cleared the Cessna to land on Runway 27 and then instructed Southwest Flight 2493 to taxi onto the same runway, waiting for departure instructions. The facility's automated surface surveillance system alerted the controller to the developing situation, prompting the Cessna to discontinue its landing attempt, narrowly averting disaster.
The Cessna reportedly passed over the top of the Southwest airplane by about 100 feet, according to a Reuters report. Southwest Airlines has confirmed its participation in the FAA's review of the incident, stating that "Our aircraft departed without event and the flight operated normally, with a safe landing in San Jose as scheduled."
The FAA is sending a team of experts to the facility to investigate and determine the closest proximity between the two airplanes during the near collision. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is also investigating the event, bringing the total number of runway incursion investigations since January to seven, according to Reuters.
Previous near-collision incidents in Austin, Texas during February saw a FedEx cargo plane and a Southwest Boeing 737 barely avoid each other by approximately 115 feet in poor visibility conditions, and just a day before the San Diego event, the NTSB cited the failure of a Lear 60 charter pilot to get a takeoff clearance in a February near-collision incident in Boston with a JetBlue flight, highlighting an alarming trend of such occurrences across US airports.
In light of these events, the FAA held a safety summit in March earlier this year and issued a safety alert with specific recommendations to ensure operations are conducted at the highest level of safety, including changes to procedures or training, as reported by CBS 8.
