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A FedEx 767 nearly landed on top of a taking off Southwest 737 at Austin, Texas Airport.

DinkyDev

DinkyDev

Member
Feb 5, 2021
5,080

View: https://twitter.com/aviationbrk/status/1622160493040238597


View: https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/1622282604941557760


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyngP-auVGs

edition.cnn.com

Investigators probing a possible near-collision between two aircraft on an airport runway in Austin, Texas

A FedEx cargo plane trying to land at an Austin, Texas, airport had to change course Saturday to avoid a potential collision with a Southwest Airlines jet that was taking off from the same runway, officials said.
edition.cnn.com edition.cnn.com

Extremely close call. Would have been absolutely catastrophic.
 
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DopeyFish

DopeyFish

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,786
im listening to the ATC and it sounds like it might be an ATC screwup? like a real bad ATC messup?
 
.Detective.

.Detective.

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,660
Like wouldn't the air control tower have to be aware of both the incoming landing flight and the outgoing take-off? And make sure they are both not utilizing the specific runway in conflict of each other?
 
Orion117

Orion117

Prophet of Regret - A King's Landing
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Dec 8, 2018
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Sounds like the Fedex gave SW the abort. ATC had no idea what was going on. Though it looks like on flight tracker the SW took off anyway?
 

Deleted member 5876

Big Seller
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,559
Jam said:
Aviation geeks: was the ATC criminally negligent?
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ATC saying clear to land doesn't absolve the pilots from checking the runway is clear .
Even in an IFR approach you still have a minimum for visual to runway.

But the other aspect is how did the other plane get clearance to enter the runway.
 
Soda

Soda

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,855
Dunedin, New Zealand
Based on that first video showing elevation, the Southwest flight still managed to take off? God damn this is terrifying all around. Someone is getting fired at a minimum.
 
Mivey

Mivey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,814
I guess there is such a thing as being too efficient when it comes to the scheduling of air plane landings and take offs.

Crazy to see how close those two planes came to each other, just 70 feet at some point. thats just 20 m. totally insane
 
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Isilia

Isilia

Member
Mar 11, 2019
5,800
US: PA
Terrifying to see.

Is ATC still severely understaffed and overworked? That may be one cause of this.
 
RedBaron17

RedBaron17

Member
Oct 27, 2017
279
MonoStable said:
I thought these planes had warning systems in place to detect something like this.
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TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) main purpose is to avoid mid-air collisions. For example, if two planes are coming at each other, the TCAS on each aircraft will tell one to climb and head right and the other to descent and head right.

And yes, ATC is still terribly understaffed and overworked. Both in the control towers at airports and in the ATC Centers spread out over the country
 
Nephtes

Nephtes

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,546
There was a crash similar to this situation in the 70's in Europe (I think) that changed the way ATC signals a plane to take off. Radio miscommunications lead one plane to think it was clear to take off when ATC was actually telling another plane they were clear to land and both collided killing everyone aboard both planes.

So… very thankful they missed one another this time.

Edit: actually the one I'm thinking of both planes were going to take off…
en.m.wikipedia.org

Tenerife airport disaster - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 
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tellNoel

tellNoel

Member
Oct 26, 2017
10,254
Thank goodness that was evaded. First thing i thought of though:

2175-A4-B8-5952-47-B8-81-CF-8-CD8-CBDB0-CCA.webp
 
NickatNite

NickatNite

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Oct 27, 2017
5,234
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Squarehard

Squarehard

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Oct 27, 2017
25,829
Simplified explanation from the article:

The near-collision happened after air traffic controllers cleared the FedEx Boeing 767 to land on Austin's Runway 18 Left, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

"Shortly before the FedEx aircraft was due to land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the same runway," said the FAA.

The FedEx flight "discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out" and "the Southwest flight departed safely," the FAA added.
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Looks like it was definitely the controller telling one plane one thing, and then telling the other one to take off as the other one was already landing. The FedEx plane was luckily able to bail out of it somehow and avoid hitting that Southwest plane.
 
Teiresias

Teiresias

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,211
I was going to make a joke about being able to hear the "Oh shit!!!!"s just from watching the altitude markers in the video in the first tweet embed, but then I listened to the ATC audio and it's like nothing interesting is happening at all.
 
Septy

Septy

Prophet of Truth
Member
Nov 29, 2017
4,081
United States
Teiresias said:
I was going to make a joke about being able to hear the "Oh shit!!!!"s just from watching the altitude markers in the video in the first tweet embed, but then I listened to the ATC audio and it's like nothing interesting is happening at all.
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It's part of staying professional. If someone panics and starts yelling it causes distractions and communication and focus breaks down.
 
Surakian

Surakian

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
10,816
misho8723 said:
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Try it out if you like these types of games

View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1884640/Rallygator/
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Uhhhhh
 
Dreams-Visions

Dreams-Visions

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
41,368
Miami, FL
misho8723 said:
Game that has its demo already ready for tomorrow's Steam Next Fest is a cute, chill physics-based platformer called Rallygator where you are solving puzzles with suprisingly tight and fun controls and where you control a monster truck which is under the control of a fox and a alligator rider :) You can use that monster truck in different ways, he can perform different stunts and can be used even in a submarine mode for example :)
Try it out if you like these types of games

View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1884640/Rallygator/
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

ATC levels of focus in this post
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,903
The Fedex plane just wanted a piggyback ride and was cruelly denied the opportunity for a fun moment of bonding between planes
 
mute

mute

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Oct 25, 2017
25,062
There is some joke in there about the odds of a Southwest flight actually taking off at the same time Fedex is able to make a delivery.
 
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