Air traffic control barely avoids collision on Austin runway
Jack Birle
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An apparent mishap with air traffic communications caused a near collision on the runway at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas on Saturday.
The incident occurred as a FedEx 767 was cleared to land on the same runway that Southwest Airlines flight 708 was taking off from Saturday morning, leading to the FedEx flight having to abort its landing.
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In audio from air traffic controllers posted to Twitter, the Southwest flight, on its way to Cancun, Mexico, can be heard being given the clearance to take off from the runway, with the FedEx plane confirming it has clearance to land on the same runway. Nearly a minute later, controllers tell the Southwest flight to abort its takeoff and then turn right.
Data from FlightAware show the FedEx plane aborting its landing and looping around while the Southwest flight took off, with the two barely missing each other. Conditions at the airport Saturday morning did include some fog which may have affected visibility for air traffic controllers.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration say they are investigating the incident.
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The near miss in Austin, Texas, comes less than a month after a near-collision between a Delta Air Lines flight and an American Airlines flight on the runway of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. In the January incident, the American Airlines flight was crossing a runway as the Delta Air Lines flight was attempting a takeoff on that same runway. The Delta flight stopped in time to prevent a collision.
Last month’s hourslong outage of the Notice to Air Missions system and the near miss at JFK airport has led to scrutiny over the vacancy of the full-time head of the FAA. The position of acting FAA administrator is currently held by Billy Nolen, but in July 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Phil Washington as his permanent replacement. A confirmation vote for Washington has not been held.