The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how a Cessna business jet and a Southwest Airlines flight nearly crashed at San Diego International Airport on Friday.
The close call occurred just before noon Friday on the runway between a Cessna 560X and Southwest Airlines Flight 2493, both of which were cleared by air traffic controllers to enter the runway, the FAA said.
Aviation communications obtained by NBC News showed the tower halted the Cessna’s descent as a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 waited on the runway to depart.
The FAA said an automated monitoring system alerted air traffic controllers of the situation and the descent was aborted. No injuries or damage have been reported.
Flight Tower: “Vacation 4 Victor Hotel, turn around! I’m flying to announce a missed approach.”
Cessna Pilot: “Okay, let’s go round, 4 Alpha Victor.”
In a statement, the FAA said it was investigating a “go-around” and said it was not yet clear how close the two planes were. It is determined by their reviews.
“Preliminary investigation into the incident indicates that air traffic controllers instructed the pilots of the Cessna Citation business jet to abort the landing as the Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 was still on the runway awaiting clearance to depart. It turned out that I did.”
“Air traffic controllers had prior clearance to land on Runway 27 and then instructed Southwest Airlines Flight 2493 to taxi to that runway and wait for instructions to depart. The facility’s automated ground surveillance system I alerted the controller to the evolving situation.”
“The FAA has sent a team of experts to the facility to investigate. The team will determine the closest distance between planes as part of the investigation.”
Southwest Airlines also said it was participating in the FAA review.
“The aircraft departed without incident, the flight operated normally and landed safely in San Jose as scheduled,” Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz said in a statement.
John Cox, a pilot with decades of experience, says it’s part of a defense-in-depth system for cases like this one.
“It’s very common to land a plane on a runway knowing it’s going to leave,” Cox said. “It’s as routine as it can be. The pace has a certain rhythm, and if there’s some reason they don’t follow that pace, they have a choice. You tell them to go fast.” Either tell them to come or tell them to hurry up.” Please wait short of the runway due to landing traffic. ”
The incident at San Diego International is one of several that have attracted federal scrutiny this year. Accidents include a FedEx plane nearly landing on top of a Southwest flight in Austin, Texas, and a plane breaking a wing at Newark Liberty International after controllers gave it the go-ahead. Another charter flight in Boston took off without a permit when a JetBlue plane was about to land.
Cox said the incident could have been caused by a number of factors, including a shortage of air traffic controllers, communications problems and an overall increase in flight numbers.
