Cessna, American Airlines 737 have mid-air close call; FAA investigating

The FAA is now investigating a previously unreported close call over the skies of Austin, Texas. An American Airlines 737 and a Cessna 182 came within approximately 350 feet of each other near the Austin airport Wednesday morning.

“Did you ever see him the second time around?” an air traffic controller can be heard asking the pilots of American Flight 2587 on air traffic control audio.

One of the pilots answered, “We saw him when he flashed us and flew right into us.”

The American flight was on approach from Chicago to land with 122 passengers and 6 crew on board when the two planes nearly crossed paths around 10:45 am local time. Flightradar24.com preliminary data puts the American flight about 350 feet above the Cessna 182 with them separated by less than 800 feet horizontally.

“If you want to declare a near miss let us know,” the controller told the pilots.

The FAA tells CBS News the Cessna “unexpectedly entered the flight path of American Airlines Flight 2587” prompting an alert in the Boeing cockpit and the pilots to take evasive action.

According to air traffic control audio posted by liveatc.net, the pilots of the American flight said they were responding to an “RA” or Resolution Advisory signal from the plane’s Traffic Collision Avoidance System known as TCAS. A TCAS warning is among the last lines of defense to avoid a mid-air collision. Pilots are encouraged to respond to an RA within five seconds.

The FAA says when the American pilots responded to that TCAS advisory they turned towards a third plane, a small private jet, resulting in a loss of separation between those two. That prompted air traffic controllers to urgently direct that plane to change course: “6-pappa golf turn right 0-3-0 immediately,” and about 15 seconds later, “papa-golf traffic to your right, an American 737 do you have him in sight?” 

American Flight 2587 landed safely a few minutes later. “American Airlines flight 2587 landed safely at AUS after completing a go-around,” said a spokesperson for the airline. “We thank our crew members for their professionalism and expertise and for always prioritizing safety above all else.”

Pilots could be heard on ATC audio discussing foggy conditions shortly before the close call.

The FAA says all three planes ultimately landed safely.

This comes just days after air traffic controllers in San Diego cleared a Southwest flight to cross a runway another Southwest flight was using to take off, putting the planes on a potential collision course before controllers ordered both planes to stop.

Tuesday the FAA announced an audit of runway incursion risk at the nation’s 45 busiest airports. The audit aims to identify any gaps in procedures, equipment and process. It will include a risk profile for each airport and recommendations to improve safety.

“While overall runway incursions are significantly down, even one incident is one too many,” the FAA said in a statement.

Wednesday was not the only close call in Austin.

Last February, a FedEx 767 was cleared to land while a Southwest 737 was still on the runway at the Austin airport in foggy conditions. The National Transportation Safety Board said the two planes came within 150-170 feet of each other before the FedEx first officer Robert Bradeen spotted the other plane. 

“I saw a light that turned out to be the position light on the Southwest airplane and quickly saw the silhouette following that and called for a go around,” Bradeen told CBS News in his first interview with a broadcast television network last month. “There’s a moment of disbelief. ‘Am I really seeing this? Is this really an airplane right there?’ And then training and experience kick in.”

FedEx Captain Hugo Carvajal was at the controls of that Boeing 767 and immediately began to climb to avoid a potential collision. 

“Without two people in this cockpit on our day it was an aircraft accident,” Carvajal said, adding both pilots were concerned when the controller cleared the Southwest flight while they were on final approach. “As soon as the tower cleared them to takeoff, we knew that there was an issue because we were, we were about three miles, which is too close at that point.”

The NTSB found the probable cause of this incident was “the local controller’s incorrect assumption that the Southwest Airlines airplane would depart from the runway before the Federal Express airplane arrived on the same runway, which resulted in a loss of separation between both airplanes.”