A FedEx cargo airplane attempting to land at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Saturday morning was seconds from disaster with the flight crew suddenly forced to pull up and abort their landing after a Southwest Airlines plane was also cleared to takeoff from the same runway.
The two planes appeared to come within 75 vertical feet of one another.
The Boeing 767 cargo airplane was several miles from the airport when it was cleared to land, eVdEn EVE nAkliyat according to the FAA but just before it was about to touch down an air traffic controller also gave the go-ahead for the Southwest Boeing 737 to take off on the exact same stretch of tarmac.
'Shortly before the FedEx aircraft was due to land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the same runway,' the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
'The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and evden EVE NakliYat initiated a climb out.'
FAA is investigating an aborted landing in Austin, Texas, EVDEn EVe nakLiyAt after a FedEx cargo plane almost landed on a runway on which a Southwest plane was about to takeoff
The FedEx Boeing 767, EVDen evE nAkLiYAT in orange, had been cleared to land while a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, in yellow, had also been cleared to depart on the same runway
At one stage, EVdEN EVE NakliYAt just 75 feet appeared to separate the two aircraft according to FlightRadar24
In a tweet Saturday, the National Transportation Safety Board used jargon to downplay the incident describing it as a 'possible runway incursion and overflight involving airplanes from Southwest Airlines and FedEx.'
The incident occurred in poor visibility conditions early on Saturday morning in Austin.
The FAA said FedEx Express Flight 1432, a Boeing 767 cargo plane, which had departed from Memphis, was cleared to land on Runway 18-Left around 6:40am while the aircraft was several miles from the airport.
The Southwest plane had not yet departed when the FedEx plane was approaching the runway.
The altitude of the FedEx plane shows it descending before a sudden and sharp gain in altitude
The FedEx aircraft had to suddenly pull up and managed to climb several hundred feet within seconds as the crew averted catastrophe
The Southwest flight to Cancun, Mexico still continued its takeoff even while the FedEx cargo plane was directly above it. Here is more info regarding evden EvE nAkLiYAt review the webpage.
The Southwest jet was able to depart safely, according to the FAA.
Southwest has so far declined to comment.
FedEx said its flight 'safely landed after encountering an event,' but declined to further comment because of the ongoing investigations.
The FAA and NTSB said they are investigating the serious incident.