A FedEx cargo plane that was attempting to land at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Saturday was diverted after another plane was cleared to take off from the same runway, the Federal Aviation Administration said. It should be mentioned that such incidents are happening more frequently in US airports. In a separate incident, two United Airlines planes recently clipped each other’s wings at Newark Airport.
“The pilot of the FedEx airplane aborted the landing and initiated a climb,” the FAA said in a statement. According to the FAA, the Boeing 767 cargo airplane was several miles from the airport when it was given clearance to land. But just before it was expected to land, an air traffic controller cleared an airplane operated by Southwest Airlines to take off.
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In a tweet on Saturday, the National Transportation Safety Board described it as a “possible runway intrusion and overflight involving airplanes from Southwest Airlines and FedEx.” According to the FAA, the Southwest flight was able to depart safely. The FAA and NTSB said they are investigating the incident.
The NTSB is investigating an incident involving Southwest 737 and FedEx 767 that occurred today in Austin. Initial ADS-B data shows the landing 767 flying overhead over the departing 737. Now we are processing granular data. https://t.co/twHCydm5ixhttps://t.co/wZ3Z0xKJem pic.twitter.com/nkKVjshXmf— FlightRadar24 (@FlightRadar24) February 5, 2023
Last month John F. A similar close call at Kennedy International Airport was averted when an American Airlines plane overshot the runway while a Delta Airlines Boeing 737 was preparing to take off. According to the FAA statement, the Delta plane came to a stop about 1,000 feet (about 0.3 kilometers) from where the American Airlines plane passed on an adjacent taxiway.
with PTI inputs