Fedex plane narrowly avoids landing on Southwest flight

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It was a close call for passengers and pilots at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Saturday when a Fedex plane nearly collided with a Southwest flight on the runway.

According to FedEx, “FedEx Express Flight 1432 from Memphis, Tennessee to Austin, Texas landed safely after encountering an event just prior to landing at Austin Bergstrom International Airport on Saturday morning. As this is an active investigation, please direct your questions to the FAA and the NTSB.

(Video above courtesy of Flightradar24.com)

According to our sister station KXAN, weather conditions made visibility difficult at the time, as dense fog obscured everything that morning for up to 1/8 of a mile.

The FAA released the following statement:

A Boeing 767 cargo plane operated by FedEx aborted its landing Saturday at Austin Bergstrom International Airport after an air traffic controller cleared a Boeing 737 operated by Southwest Airlines to take off ahead of the FedEx plane.

According to preliminary information, FedEx Flight 1432 was cleared to land on runway 18-left around 6:40 a.m. local time (Saturday, Feb. 4) when the plane was several miles from the airport. Shortly before the FedEx plane was due to land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to take off from the same runway.

The pilot of the FedEx aircraft aborted the landing and initiated a climb. The Southwest flight departed safely. The FAA is investigating the incident.

Although this incident is being investigated, no one was injured. The WREG will update this story with more information as it becomes available.