Southwest jet trying to land at Chicago Midway Airport nearly collides with a private plane on the runway

(CNN) — A Southwest Airlines plane had a close call with a private jet that entered a runway without authorization Tuesday morning at Chicago Midway International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Southwest Flight 2504 landed safely after the flight crew had to perform a go-around to prevent a potential collision, according to Southwest.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident, which took place at around 8:50 a.m. local time.

“We don’t believe that this was an air traffic control issue. It appears this was a failure of the flight crew from Flexjet to listen and abide by the instructions of air traffic control,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homedy told Fox News on Wednesday.

The private Bombardier Challenger 350 was managed by Flexjet, a company that provides private aircraft on a “fractional ownership” basis.

The close call came as the two federal aviation agencies are investigating a string of safety incidents in recent weeks, including the deadly midair collision over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a fatal Medevac jet crash in Philadelphia and a regional airline crash off the coast of Nome, Alaska, that killed 10 people.

Roughly 90 minutes before the Chicago incident, an American Airlines flight was forced to cancel its landing at Reagan National to avoid a departing plane.

“There was nothing gradual about it. It felt like the pilot had to make an emergency maneuver,” passenger Itai Vardi told the The New York Times. American Airlines called it “a standard go around, nothing out of the usual,” it told CNN.

In the incident at Midway airport, the Southwest plane was arriving from Omaha, Nebraska, and the Bombardier Challenger 350, was headed to Knoxville, Tennessee, according to FlightRadar24.

Air traffic control instructed the private jet to turn left on “Runway 4L, cross Runway 31L and hold short of Runway 31C,” according to audio from LiveATC.net.

The pilot replies, saying, “Alright, left on 2 – uh – 4L, cross the 22, or 13C, Flexjet 560.”

Then the air traffic controller on the ground immediately replies, “Flexjet 560, negative! Cross 31L, hold short Runway 31C,” which the pilot then correctly acknowledges.

Air traffic control audio from the tower also indicates the moment the pilot of the Southwest plane chose to perform the go-around to avoid the private jet on the runway.

Air traffic controllers reply, “-west 2504, uh, roger that. Climb, maintain 3,000.”

Once the plane reached 3,000 feet in the air, the pilot asked the tower, “Southwest 2504, uh, how’d that happen?”

“GREAT JOB BY THE SOUTHWEST PILOTS IN CHICAGO. A NEARLY TRAGIC CLOSE CALL,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social following the incident.

The planes came as close as approximately 2,050 feet before the Southwest plane initiated the go-around, and the Southwest plane flew over the private jet at approximately 250 feet above ground, according to FlightRadar24.

Midway Airport has an unusual layout with four operational runways which bisect each other like a large X.

“When you look at the airport map, it looks like a plaid kilt,” said former Department of Transportation Inspector General Mary Schiavo, a CNN analyst. “There are just so many runways, taxiways, etc.”

Runway incursions — in which two airplanes essentially get in the way of one another on or near a runway — averaged more than three per day across the United States in 2024, according to Schiavo.

“That is one of the worst statistics in aviation safety,” she said.

Passengers praise pilot for quick action

“We had no idea what happened,” passenger Emily Novak told CNN affiliate WOWT of the Midway incident. “The pilot kept everyone so calm. There was no panic on the plane at all that I noticed. Like, he stayed very calm, just made it seem very routine, and then we saw the video, we were like, what? Honest to God had no idea that even happened.”

“I just feel very thankful for who we had flying our plane,” Novak said.

Passenger Todd Engel always says a prayer before traveling – and said another prayer when he felt the plane accelerating while landing, he told WOWT.

“The pilot did come on and say there was a plane on the runway,” Engel said. “Took another 10 minutes. We had to circle back around and land, but it was pretty amazingly calm on the flight.”

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement on X Tuesday, “It is imperative that pilots follow the instructions of air traffic controllers. If they do not, their licenses will be pulled.” Duffy said he would provide additional updates when they become available.

The Southwest “crew followed safety procedures, and the flight landed without incident,” a Southwest spokesperson said in an email to CNN. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”

The private jet can seat up to nine passengers, according to configurations posted on Flexjet’s website.

“Flexjet adheres to the highest safety standards, and we are conducting a thorough investigation,” the company said in a statement. “Any action to rectify and ensure the highest safety standards will be taken.”

Between January 2023 and September 2024, the NTSB investigated 13 runway incursions involving commercial, or for-hire, flights. Those incursions varied in category from some with “no immediate safety consequences” to “narrowly” avoiding a collision.

CNN’s Pete Muntean, Sara Smart, Sharif Paget, Taliah Miller and Matthew Rehbein contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire

Source link