A Southwest Airlines plane was involved in a shocking near miss as it narrowly avoided colliding with a private jet at Chicago Midway Airport as it attempted to land on Tuesday.
Footage of the incident from the airport’s webcam shows Southwest Airlines Flight 2504 approaching the tarmac around 8:20 a.m. as a small Flexjet pulled in front of the much larger Boeing 737-800, forcing it to go back up into the air to avoid collision.
Flight data shows that the two planes were around 2,050 feet apart vertically when the Southwest 737 flew over the private jet at an uncorrected pressure altitude of 900 feet.
In air traffic control audio, the Southwest pilot can be heard asking the tower: “How’d that happen?”
Audio further revealed the private plane had been cleared to cross one runway but to hold at another to allow the Southwest flight to land.
The private jet pilot repeated the instructions to the tower incorrectly. The tower replied “negative” and corrected the pilot, who then repeated the instructions correctly. However, the Flexjet pilot proceeded to approach the airplane’s path, prompting a controller to again tell the Flexjet pilot to hold short.
Seconds later the Southwest pilot told the tower their jet was “going around.”
Once the Southwest plane was back in the air, the controller told the Flexjet pilot to move further up the runway and come to a stop.
“Your instructions were to hold short,” a controller said. Another added: “Hold right there sir, don’t move.”
In an emailed statement, the airline said the plane landed safely after the crew performed a precautionary go-around “to avoid a possible conflict with another aircraft that entered the runway.”
“The crew followed safety procedures and the flight landed without incident. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees,” the statement concluded.
The flight had originated from Omaha, Nebraska, where it departed around 7:20 a.m., according to FlightAware data. Air traffic control cleared the flight to return to the airport shortly after the go-around and still had an on-time status.
The Flexjet Bombardier Challenger was bound for Knoxville, Tennessee, according to data from flightradar24.com. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Flexjet told The Independent: “We are aware of the occurrence today in Chicago.
“Flexjet adheres to the highest safety standards and we are conducting a thorough investigation. Any action to rectify and ensure the highest safety standards will be taken.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.
Writing on X, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he will provide more updates once more information becomes available.
“However,” he noted. “It is imperative that pilots follow the instructions of air traffic controllers. If they do not, their licenses will be pulled.”
Runway incursions are rare but have increased in recent years, per FAA data. In 2021, the US experienced 1574 runway incursions. That number has increased to an average of 1749 incursions per year since.
