An air traffic controller may have rebooked a runway at a Texas airport on Saturday, officials said, sending two jetliners on a course for a potential collision that was averted.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the close call occurred at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport around 6:40 p.m., where a Boeing 737 operated by Southwest Airlines was cleared to depart shortly before a FedEx 767 cargo plane. statement.
The FAA said the FedEx plane missed its landing on Runway 18-Left.
“The pilot of the FedEx airplane aborted the landing and initiated a climb,” it said. “Southwest flight departed safely.”
In a statement, the package shipper said a FedEx Express flight from Memphis to Austin “landed safely after experiencing an incident just prior to landing.”
Southwest declined to comment. The Air Traffic Controllers Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On January 16, at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, a Delta Air Lines plane taking off was ordered to stop abruptly after controllers noticed an American Airlines plane crossing its path, the FAA said that Where was the time?
The Delta 737 was able to stop safely in time when the controller was heard on radio traffic archived by the LiveATC website saying, “Delta 1943, cancel takeoff clearance!”
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating Saturday’s incident.