A Cessna Citation business jet flew within an alarmingly close proximity to a Boeing 737 that was taking off at the San Diego International Airport on Friday. Now, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the near collision in California.
Just before 12:00 p.m. on Friday, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 was about to take off. At the same time, the air traffic controller cleared the Cessna Citation to land on the same runway.
The FAA said in a statement, “The controller had previously cleared the Citation to land on Runway 27 and then instructed Southwest Flight 2493 to taxi onto that runway and wait for instructions to depart.”
The automated ground surveillance system detected the two aircraft were dangerously close to colliding with each other and alerted the air traffic controller.
Simply Flying reported, “The controller immediately directed the Cessna to discontinue the landing procedure, thereby avoiding an oncoming catastrophe.”
The Cessna flew approximately 100 feet directly above the Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 on the runway.
The Cessna safely landed at San Diego International Airport. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines Flight 2493 took off and later safely landed as scheduled in San Jose, California.
No injuries were reported on either aircraft.
The FAA and NTSB are investigating the near collision, and Southwest Airlines is assisting authorities in the investigation. The FAA is sending a team of experts to the San Diego International Airport to investigate.
Shockingly, this is the sixth near-collision event on airport runways since January.
In February, a similar near-collision event nearly happened in February when a FedEx cargo plane came within 115 feet of almost landing on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 taking off at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
Then in June, an Allegiant Air plane nearly crashed with a small aircraft at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
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