A recent aviation incident in San Diego involving a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 and a Cessna Citation 560X business jet is under investigation by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board.
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The FAA's preliminary findings indicate that the air traffic controller at San Diego International Airport cleared the Cessna to land on a runway where the Southwest flight had already been instructed to await instructions for departure. The facility's automated surveillance system alerted the controller, who directed the Cessna to discontinue landing.
Initial reviews suggest that the Cessna passed over the top of the Southwest plane by approximately 100 feet. The FAA is dispatching a team to investigate the matter. Southwest Airlines confirmed that its aircraft departed without incident and landed safely in San Jose as scheduled. The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating seven runway incursion events that have occurred since January, including the San Diego incident.
In February, a similar near-collision incident occurred in Austin, Texas, between a FedEx cargo plane and a Southwest Boeing 737 in poor visibility conditions. In a separate incident in February, the NTSB cited the failure of a Lear 60 charter pilot to obtain takeoff clearance in Boston, resulting in a near-collision with a JetBlue flight. The FAA acknowledged in March that there have been too many close calls and is taking steps to improve its air traffic control operations. The FAA held a safety summit and issued a safety alert to airlines, pilots, and others in March calling for continued vigilance and attention to mitigate safety risks.