Safety chief says Southwest plane avoided crashing into FedEx flight by less ... trends now
A FedEx airplane came within less than 100 feet of a Southwest commercial flight with 128 people on board during a terrifying near miss in Austin on Saturday, a top safety official has revealed.
Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, explained just how close the planes were to catastrophe and said investigators are probing how the incident was able to happen.
The Boeing 767 was approaching the runway with poor visibility while a Southwest Boeing 737 was cleared for takeoff.
Homendy told Politico: 'We’re really digging into the communications between [air traffic control], Southwest, FedEx — especially in relation to weather issues.'
She said it was 'fairly clear that the aircraft came within very close proximity of each other and we believe it’s less than 100 feet'.
Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said two planes came within less than 100ft of each other during a near miss in Austin on Saturday
A FedEx flight had to abort its landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport after a Southwest flight with 128 passengers on board was cleared to take off from the same runway (stock image)
The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating after the FedEx cargo plane was forced to abandon its landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
The FedEx flight was several miles from the airport when it was cleared to land, according to the FAA.
But as it was about to touch down, an air traffic controller also gave the go-ahead for the Southwest Boeing 737 to take off on the exact same stretch of tarmac.
The Southwest flight to Cancun, Mexico still continued its takeoff even while the FedEx cargo plane was directly above it.
The Southwest jet was able to depart
