By David Shepardson
(Reuters) – A Southwest Airways flight was lower than 200 toes behind a enterprise jet when the Southwest pilot aborted the touchdown and made an emergency maneuver to narrowly keep away from a collision at Chicago Halfway Airport on February 25, U.S. security officers mentioned on Tuesday.
A FlexJet Challenger enterprise jet entered the runway with out authorization, prompting the Southwest Boeing 737-800 to circle and re-approach the touchdown, a maneuver known as a go-around.
The Southwest first officer noticed the enterprise jet and realized it was not stopping, known as for a go-around and the captain executed it, the Nationwide Transportation Security Board mentioned in a preliminary report.
The FlexJet crew mentioned the directions from controllers didn’t make sense and mentioned after they sought clarification they got a brand new taxi route. The flight crew initially learn again the directions incorrectly however the floor controller instantly reissued the directions and acquired an accurate readback.
The FlexJet flight crew mentioned the solar was impeding visibility from the precise aspect of the plane and crew members didn’t recall seeing any maintain brief line or pavement markings. The crew mentioned it didn’t observe the Southwest jet on ultimate strategy.
A controller instructed the FlexJet to carry brief because it approached, however the transmission was not acknowledged, the NTSB mentioned.
This month, the Federal Aviation Administration mentioned it was taking steps to handle issues of safety involving basic aviation and enterprise jets.
After the Chicago incident, the FAA mentioned it was initiating a safety-risk evaluation of shut encounters between pilots flying visually and pilots flying below air visitors management. The FAA mentioned it had met with basic and enterprise aviation teams.
During the last two years, a sequence of near-miss incidents has raised issues about U.S. aviation security and the pressure on understaffed air visitors management operations. A number of incidents have concerned shut calls with small planes.
The FAA mentioned it could take a sequence of steps to remind pilots to verify notices for conditions they will encounter throughout flight, be accustomed to their vacation spot airport, keep away from complacency by taking note of pre-flight checklists and pay shut consideration to onboard collision warnings.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Modifying by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)
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