A Southwest Airways jet making an attempt to land at Halfway Airport just about crashed with a trade jet that had crossed into its trail Tuesday morning, in line with the Federal Aviation Management.Officers mentioned the incident befell in a while earlier than 9 a.m., when Southwest Airways Flight 2504 from Omaha, Nebraska, was once making an attempt to land. In a video of the incident posted to social media, the Southwest flight is observed as regards to touching down, then pulling up as a smaller trade jet taxis throughout its trail. The Southwest flight returned to the air earlier than later touchdown safely and “with out incident,” in line with an emailed remark from Southwest Airways.Omaha resident Caley Maszk was once taking a look out the window of the Southwest airplane because it descended and neared the bottom. She mentioned it felt as although the airplane was once “inches” from the bottom earlier than “swiftly we commence going up once more.”Maszk, 32, and the opposite passengers had been perplexed however now not alarmed, she mentioned. Mins later the pilot lightly defined to them {that a} airplane have been at the runway and their arrival could be fairly not on time.“We didn’t suppose the rest took place as a result of he was once so calm,” Maszk mentioned. “No person mentioned it after we had been getting off the airplane.”After an hour layover at Halfway Maszk boarded any other airplane to Dallas. It was once handiest when she landed in Texas that she noticed video of the incident and learned how shut she and fellow passengers have been to crisis.“Once we noticed the video, proper after we landed in Dallas we had been surprised, as a result of we didn’t know that we had been that airplane that just about hit any other airplane,” Maszk mentioned. “It was once loopy.”The team of the Southwest flight needed to start up a “go-around” to keep away from the jet, which was once at the runway with out authorization, mentioned Steve Kulm, of the FAA. Invoice Bernal, president of the union of Southwest Airways flight attendants TWU Native 556, lauded the flight crews movements on board.“We applaud the pointy talents of the Participants of TWU Native 556, the Southwest Airways Flight Attendants on board, and the fast considering and movements of the pilots, participants of the Southwest Airways Pilots Affiliation,” Bernal mentioned in a remark. “Determination to coaching and enjoy stored lives as of late.”The pilot of the non-public jet, owned by means of Flexjet, seemed to misunderstand an air site visitors controller’s directions, in line with audio from LiveATC.web.As soon as the Southwest airplane reached 3,000 ft, the pilot requested, “Uh, how’d that occur?”There have been no reviews of accidents, the Chicago Hearth Division mentioned. Maszk mentioned she was once very thankful that the Southwest pilot was once skilled and that his coaching kicked in, including that his calm demeanor stored passengers from turning into panicked. “If I ever get the danger to look him I’ll give him an ideal large hug as a result of I’m so grateful,” she mentioned. Southwest Airways, which didn’t unencumber the choice of passengers on board, showed the team “carried out a precautionary go-around” to keep away from a conceivable warfare with any other plane that entered the runway.
The Southwest Airways check-in counters at Halfway had been in large part empty later within the day on Tuesday. Kaitlin Washburn/Solar-Occasions
A Flexjet spokesperson mentioned in an electronic mail the corporate was once “conscious about the incidence as of late in Chicago.”“Flexjet adheres to the best protection requirements and we’re carrying out a radical investigation. Any motion to rectify and make sure the best protection requirements will probably be taken,” a Flexjet spokesperson mentioned.
The Flexjet spokesperson didn’t resolution questions on how the near-collision took place or why its plane was once at the runway.The Nationwide Transportation Protection Board and the FAA are investigating. U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia known as for a complete investigation into the incident in a remark posted on X.“Grateful nobody was once harm within the Halfway near-collision. This was once a detailed name, and we wish to understand how it took place. I’ll be urgent for a complete investigation to stay our skies and airports protected. That is why cuts to FAA are bad,” Garcia mentioned.
Grateful nobody was once harm within the Halfway near-miss. This was once a detailed name, and we wish to understand how it took place. I’ll be urgent for a complete investigation to stay our skies and airports protected. That is why cuts to FAA are bad. Congressman Chuy García (@RepChuyGarcia) February 25, 2025
Air site visitors regulate audio makes transparent that the trade jet did not heed transparent instruction to not move the runway, mentioned Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB member and previous FAA investigator.Guzzetti known as it a “very critical runway incursion,” however added: “Then again, the sky isn’t falling as a result of final yr was once the bottom recorded choice of critical runway incursions in a decade.”There have been 22 of those critical occasions in 2023, however simply seven in 2024, he mentioned, mentioning FAA information.The near-collision Tuesday is not likely to boost flyers’ self belief following different high-profile incidents national.The final main crash that took place at Halfway was once in December 2005, when a Southwest flight landed in a storm from snow and skidded off the runway, crashing into vehicles on Central Road and killing a 6-year-old boy. The previous few weeks have observed 4 main aviation failures in North The usa. They come with the Feb. 6 crash of a commuter airplane in Alaska that killed all 10 other folks on board and the Jan. 26 midair collision between an Military helicopter and an American Airways flight at Washington’s Ronald Reagan Nationwide Airport that killed all 67 aboard the 2 plane.A clinical delivery jet with a kid affected person, her mom and 4 others aboard crashed Jan. 31 right into a Philadelphia community. That crash killed seven other folks, together with all the ones aboard, and injured 19 others.Twenty-one other folks had been injured Feb. 17 when a Delta Air Strains flight flipped and landed on its roof at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.Contributing: Related Press
