The Federal Aviation Administration said that on Tuesday morning at Chicago Midway International Airport, there was a close call between a Southwest Airlines plane and a private jet that had entered the runway without permission.
Airlines say that Southwest Flight 2504 arrived safely at the Chicago airport after the flight crew had to do a go-around to avoid an accident.
The accident happened around 8:50 a.m. local time and is being looked into by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Recently, there have been a number of safety incidents that the two agencies are looking into. These include the fatal midair collision over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a Medevac jet crash in Philadelphia, and a regional airline crash off the coast of Nome, Alaska, that killed 10 people.
According to FlightRadar24, the Southwest plane was coming in from Omaha, Nebraska, and the private jet, a Bombardier Challenger 350, was on its way to Knoxville, Tennessee.
According to audio from LiveATC.net, air traffic control told the private jet to turn left on “Runway 4L, cross Runway 31L, and hold short of Runway 31C.”
When asked, the pilot replied, “Okay, left on 2–uh–4L, cross the 22 or 13C, Flexjet 560.”
After that, the air traffic officer on the ground told the pilot right away, “Flexjet 560, negative!” Go over 31L and stop short on 31C.
Sound from the tower of air traffic control also shows the exact moment when the Southwest pilot decided to do a go-around to miss the private jet on the runway.
“-west 2504, uh, Roger that,” say the air traffic controllers. “Climb and hold 3,000.”
The pilot asked the station, “Southwest 2504, how did that happen?” when the plane got to 3,000 feet in the air.
According to an email from Southwest to CNN, the crew followed safety rules and the flight arrived without any problems. SW: “The safety of our customers and employees is the most important thing to us.”
A passenger named Emily Novak told CNN station WOWT, “We had no idea what happened.” Everyone was so calm because of the pilot. I didn’t see any panic on the plane; he stayed very calm and made it look like nothing was wrong. When we saw the tape, we were shocked. To be honest, I had no idea that even took place.
Novak said, “I’m just very grateful for the person who flew our plane.”
Passenger Todd Engel told WOWT that he always prays before he goes on a trip. He also said another prayer when he felt the plane speeding up as it landed.
Eagle said, “The pilot did come on and say there was a plane on the runway.” It took an extra 10 minutes. We had to go around and land, but the flight was amazingly quiet.
In a statement on X, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, “Pilots must always do what air traffic controllers tell them to do.” It will be taken away from them if they don’t. Duffy said he would give more information when it became available.
A spokesperson for Flexjet, the company that runs the Bombardier Challenger 350, said in a statement that the company was “aware of the event” in Chicago and “was working to gather more information on this situation.” Flexjet’s website shows that the private jet can fit up to nine people in different combinations.
Sources tell FlightRadar24 that the planes got as close as 2,050 feet before the Southwest plane started the go-around.
FlightRadar24 said the Southwest plane passed over the private jet at a pressure altitude of 900 feet, which was about 250 feet above ground after pressure and elevation were taken into account.
From January 2023 to September 2024, the NTSB looked into 13 incidents of commercial (for-hire) planes going off the runway. There were different types of incursions, ranging from ones that had “no immediate safety consequences” to ones that “narrowly” avoided a collision.
