Last month, a Southwest Airlines plane and a Learjet came about 287 feet laterally close to each other, barely managing to avoid a collision at Chicago’s Midway International Airport. The incident which occurred on December 1 was likely the result of air traffic controller error. This incident is the latest in a series of near-miss aviation safety incidents that California plane crash lawyers have associated with air traffic controller errors.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident, which fortunately did not result in any accidents or injuries. The Southwest Airlines plane had been decelerating on the runway, when it got clearance to turn left. That placed the plane on a potential collision path with the Learjet, which soon took off. A potential disaster was averted by the copilot of the Southwest Airlines plane who alerted the pilot to the Learjet. The pilot was able to stop the plane in time.
The Southwest Airlines pilot alleges that the Learjet was just 67 feet over the Southwest Airlines Boeing 737. However, according to the investigators, at the closest distance, there was a gap of 287 feet between the 2 planes.
Obviously, there was some kind of misjudgment on the part of the air traffic controller here. The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report, which however, does not blame air traffic controller error for this incident. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating why the surface movement detection system which has been installed at Chicago’s Midway Airport failed to detect the potential conflict. The investigators are looking at whether air traffic controllers had been using the system at the time, or whether it was an operation.
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