Blitz Bureau
WASHINGTON: Weeks after a series of plane disasters hit the United States, coming on the heels of terminations in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), another such tragedy was averted by a mindful Southwest Airlines pilot by aborting a last-minute landing upon spotting a private plane on the runway, reported livemint.com.
A video of the Southwest Airlines pilot briefly touching the runway before smoothly taking off again went viral on social media, it said. The incident happened on the Chicago Midway International Airport around 8:50 am when Southwest Flight 2504 from Omaha attempted to land.
The viral video shows the pilot executing a “go around” when a private jet comes closer to plane on the runway that the passenger plane was set to use. “Go around” is a technique where a pilot aborts a landing and quickly regains altitude.
An airline spokesperson said that the Southwest Flight 2504 safely landed “after the crew performed a precautionary go-around to avoid a possible conflict with another aircraft that entered the runway.”
Audio recording of communication between the smaller jet and the control tower recorded its pilot misstating instructions from a ground tower employee, who repeated that the pilot should “hold short” of a runway.
About 30 seconds later, the ground tower ordered the pilot “hold your position there.” The tower employee is then heard saying: “FlexJet560, your instructions were to hold short of runway 31 center.” A recording of the communication between the Southwest crew and a ground tower employee captures the pilot reporting, “Southwest 2504 going around” and rising again to 3,000 feet.
