NTSB chief: Planes separated by ‘less than 100 feet’ in near-crash

Federal officials are investigating an incident that occurred at the Austin airport over the weekend when an approaching FedEx cargo plane nearly collided with a Southwest passenger plane taking off.

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#Austin #Planes #Airport #ABCNews

[charlesz]

Once again MSM is reporting the wrong info. The FedEx pilot said southwest abort, FedEx on the go. Not the air traffic controller. The controller had no idea what he did until FedEx called southwest to abort. Bravo to the FedEx pilot for having better situation awareness than the controller. The pilot saved countless lives. Come on ABC you had 3 days to get this right.

[boeingdriver]

This is partially incorrect information. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT FOR ONCE!! FEDEX was the one who said “Southwest abort. Fedex is on the go.” That was NOT Austin Tower! Austin Tower didnt do anything to fix the problem!! If it wasnt for the fedex crew being alert and aware on frequency this would have ended very badly!!

The other thing you have to realize is that it was VERY LOW visibility at the time of the near miss so that has to be taken into consideration as well. Under 0 circumstances should Austin Tower have launched that Southwest before the Fedex safely landed and exited the runway. Austin Tower seeiously screwed up and the NTSB’s report will show exactly that. As well as the FAAs report.

Also, at 1:16 timestamp, that controller said “Cancel takeoff CLEARANCE!” NOT “Cancel takeoff plans”… lol i swear the media needs to hire aviation experts who actually know about aviation so they get the story right. Their track record is legitimately ABYSMAL!

[fastfiddler]

Couple housekeeping items. "Southwest Abort... Fedex on the go" was one of the Fedex pilots, NOT the controller. JFK does have automated runway warning systems, but not on at the particular spots where it would have helped that incident. Lastly, "Delta, cancel takeoff CLEARANCE" not "takeoff plans..." To be clear. Clearing an aircraft to takeoff on the same runway as an inbound landing is completely normal, provided the tower has the staffing to cover it. I don't know the exact rules on that, but if they don't have the staffing, they will often only give one aircraft clearance to the runway at a time. In this case, they cleared SWA to takeoff with Fedex at 3 miles out. Not unusual in visual, or even marginal conditions. But this was very low visibility. Just under 600' on certain parts of the field. Clearing an airplane to go in front with weather that low IS unusual, particularly when the control tower cannot see the runways. The controller here definitely screwed up. BUT, the Southwest crew also has resources. On the ground and in flight, (in the 737 at least) you can see other aircraft on your navigation display (unless TCAS is inoperative (which is rare)). They were told that Fedex was three miles out. That's a very short window. They really should have said unable; that they'll wait. But either way, they clearly lost situational awareness. A slow taxi in low visibility is normal. Not saying anything about it and just... going along with it, is not. The pilots will likely be questioned. The controller.... well, might not have a job anymore.

[unamed]

What's with this reporting? 0:49 was said by the FedEx pilots, not ATC. At 1:16 ATC is saying cancel takeoff clearence.

[WTC_mod_Quake_HL_HL]

Glad there were no casualties.
I hope they will sort out the problem and prevent this from happening again in the future.

[SirGamestop]

so was it a fedex 767 or a fedex dc-10? you guys are using pictures of both as if they were the same plane.

[scillyautomatic]

Yikes! Some of the worst air disaster were between planes that collided on the runway.

[beckyengland]

It was not the Air Traffic Controller who told Southwest to abort. It was FedEx.

[TrainerAQ]

"Southwest abort, FedEx is on the go"
WAS NOT ATC
that was the FedEx pilot who said that!

[grandcalia]

What the heck is going on with Air Traffic Control? Too few controllers? Distracted controllers? Poorly trained controllers? Too many flights?

[nathancommissariat]

So many inaccuracies, it’s amazing how many views this gets

[GodsDisciples-es]

Miscommunication between radar and the pilots with ATC .

[jonathanerno]

I think it's about time to decongest our airports. This is the second time a near miss accident happened this year. Our airports might be too busy for the personnel to handle multiple flights in a day.

[TheCommunicationCoach]

Jeebus! Right after posting on the lack of security and dangers from RRS with toxic chemicals, here we go again with more transport issues! Neither planes, trains nor automobiles are safe these days.

[ReefHausDynamics]

Sounds like someone’s past relationship 😂

[kristenmabry]

Obviously the collision alerts don’t work…

[AnythingJW]

what a dumb Texas ATC personnel almost caused this accident.... how much time can you really save to just wait for another 30 sec?

[harleyatc]

The controller should be decertified, an egregious error in judgment!

[raulortiz]

Now, having planes take off while one is landing is common, I'm assuming southwest took to long to start the take off process!

[pankunikarn]

Time to fire the air traffic controller