Southwest Airlines plane aborts landing after close call at Chicago’s Midway Airport
Southwest Airlines and a private enterprise plane narrowly avoided a collision at Chicago Midway International Airport on Tuesday morning, CBS News confirmed.
Video shows Flight 2504 from Omaha landing in the airport and then quickly miscarried to avoid potential collisions with business jets taxiing on the runway. Southwest flights are only a few inches from the ground when the pilot heads towards and climbs into the sky to avoid commercial aircraft. According to preliminary flight data, a few seconds later, the southwest aircraft flew over commercial aircraft at an altitude of 250 feet.
Recordings from air traffic control show that private jets have been cleared to cross one runway but remain consistent on the other. The pilot of the private jet incorrectly repeated the instructions to the tower and was corrected by the tower. The pilot then repeated the instructions correctly. About 30 seconds later, the Southwest pilot can be heard saying they are “moving around”.
Southwest confirmed the incident, telling CBS News that the Boeing 737 Max8 crew took “precautions to avoid clashes with another aircraft entering the runway.”
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Based on preliminary data from tracking website Flightradar24.comBusiness Jet is a Flexjet Bombardier Challenger in Knoxville, Tennessee.
A Flexjet spokesman told CBS News: “We are aware of the events that happened today in Chicago. Flexjet adheres to the highest safety standards and we are conducting a thorough investigation.” “Any action that corrects and ensures that the highest safety standards will be taken.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said the commercial aircraft “has no authorization to enter the runway.” The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the incident is under investigation.
Southwest flights are from Omaha, Nebraska. Southwest Airlines explain The flight “nothing happened” landed.
The incident occurred around 8:50 am local time.
Chicago Midway Airport is Southwest’s hub. The airline carries more than 90% of airport passengers.
Runway invasions are rare, but disturbing spikes have emerged due to the rapid resumption of air travel after the airborne epidemic. In 2024, severe runway invasion rates fell from their highest point in 2023, from 0.4 per million airport operations to 0.124 per million actions.
“There are often multiple layers of defense to ensure our aviation systems are safe,” said Robert Sumwalt, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Council and CBS News Transportation Safety Analyst. “But again, we’ve seen cases like this.” , these cases were bypassed and we had a close call. Fortunately, the ultimate defense layer – the Southwest pilot’s eyes and actions – made this incident avoid a serious accident.”
