U.S. investigates aborted FedEx landing in Texas, two planes cleared for same runway

Feb 4 (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Nationwide Transportation Security Board are investigating an aborted touchdown in Austin, Texas, on Saturday morning by a FedEx (FDX.N) cargo airplane that had been set to land on a runway on which a Southwest Airways (LUV.N) jet was additionally cleared to depart from, the businesses stated.

The 2 planes got here near colliding when the FedEx airplane was pressured to overfly the Southwest airplane to keep away from a crash, two sources briefed on the matter instructed Reuters.

“Shortly earlier than the FedEx plane was as a consequence of land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the identical runway,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated.

The NTSB individually stated it was investigating “a doable runway incursion and overflight involving airplanes from Southwest Airways and FedEx.”

The incident occurred in poor visibility circumstances in Austin. The FAA stated FedEx Specific Flight 1432, a Boeing 767 cargo airplane, which had departed from Memphis, was cleared to land on Runway 18-Left round 6:40 a.m. whereas the plane was a number of miles from the airport. The Southwest airplane had not but departed when the FedEx airplane was nearing the runway.

“The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the touchdown and initiated a climb out,” the FAA stated.

It was not clear exactly how shut the 2 airplanes got here to colliding, however flight monitoring web site information steered they got here very shut.

The Cancun, Mexico-bound Southwest flight, a Boeing 737-700, safely departed and landed at 9:47 a.m. ET.

Southwest declined to remark. FedEx stated its flight “safely landed after encountering an occasion,” however declined additional remark due to the continued investigations.

The NTSB and FAA are investigating one other latest near-miss runway incident.

On Jan. 13, a Delta Air Traces (DAL.N) airplane got here to a protected cease at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport after air visitors controllers observed a Boeing 777 had crossed from an adjoining taxiway.

The FAA stated the Delta Boeing 737 stopped its takeoff roll roughly 1,000 ft earlier than reaching the purpose the place American Airways (AAL.O) Flight 106 had crossed.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Enhancing by Sandra Maler and Leslie Adler

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