Probe Launched After FedEx Cargo Plane Nearly Collides With Southwest Flight in Texas

An airport is one of those places where maximum coordination of all services is required to avoid delays and accidents. However, even in such a complex system, malfunctions can occur.

The US National Transportation Safety Board recently launched an investigation after a FedEx cargo plane approaching a Texas airport came dangerously close to a Southwest Airlines jet preparing to take off from the tarmac.

The safety board labeled the incident at Texas' Austin-Bergstrom International Airport "a possible runway incursion and overflight."

The Federal Aviation Administration detailed the near-collision mishap occurred in poor visibility at 6:40 a.m. local time, just as Austin airport dispatch cleared the FedEx Express Flight 1432 to approach the runway. At the same time, a Southwest plane, a Boeing 737, was preparing to depart from the same runway.

Since the incident, an animation has surfaced online showing just how close the planes came to colliding at the Austin airport.

Austin Airport almost gave us the worst air disaster in decades yesterday. These planes were less than 75 feet from each other, literally landing and taking off at the same time, one on top of the other. pic.twitter.com/KJbgD3IwiN

— Levi (@Levijameshere) February 5, 2023

"Shortly before the FedEx aircraft was due to land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the same runway," the FAA noted in a statement, adding that the FedEx flight "discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out" that led to "the Southwest flight departed safely."

FedEx released a statement to media, which read that company’s airplane "safely landed after encountering an event just before landing."

The latest comes after two planes did in fact collide on the ground at the Newark Liberty International Airport the week prior. The two planes clipped each other's wings as authorities were towing a United Boeing 787 plane to its gate.