LONDON – The NTSB has announced that it will investigate the FedEx-Southwest Airlines near miss in Austin-Bergstrom International Airport that happened yesterday.
The Incident…
FedEx flight 1432, a Boeing 767 with the cargo carrier, was cleared to land on Runway 18L while the aircraft was on short final.
The Southwest Airlines aircraft, flight 708, was cleared to depart but hadn’t initiated the departure roll.
As you can see from the image above, the aircraft got within 70 feet of each other, especially as the Southwest Airlines flight was departing.
The FedEx flight discontinued its landing and headed east via a go-around procedure before landing safely back at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
NTSB & FAA Comments on FedEx-Southwest Near Miss…
Following the incident, the NTSB said the following on social media:
“The NTSB is investigating a surface event at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Saturday, a possible runway incursion and overflight involving airplanes from Southwest Airlines and FedEx.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also added to the NTSB comments, saying the following:
“Shortly before the FedEx aircraft was due to land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the same runway”.
“The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out,”
ATC Communications From FedEx-Southwest Near Miss…
The footage above, courtesy of @aviationbrk on Twitter, shows the ATC communications out of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport as the incident developed.
All eyes will be on the NTSB to make its investigations on the FedEx-Southwest Airlines near miss and to see what else can be done to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.
This is a developing story. More to follow soon!
