(NewsNation) —Southwest Airlines said Saturday that it is participating in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) review of a near collision between one of its Boeing 737s and a Cessna Citation business jet in San Diego.
According to the FAA, they are sending a team to investigate why and how this situation occurred.
The FAA’s preliminary review shows that just before 12 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday, an air traffic controller at San Diego International Airport cleared the Cessna to land on a certain runway.
It was reportedly the same runway that a Southwest flight had already been told to taxi onto and await instructions to depart.
The facility’s automated surface surveillance system alerted the controller about the situation and the controller was able to direct the Cessna to discontinue the landing.
According to an initial review, it showed the Cessna jet had passed over the top of the Southwest airplane by about 100 feet.
According to a statement by Southwest, “Our aircraft departed without event and the flight operated normally, with a safe landing in San Jose as scheduled.”
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating six runway incursion events since January alone.
The NTSB is investigating a similar incident to the one in San Diego that occurred in February in Austin, Texas, where FedEx cargo plane and a Southwest Boeing 737 came within about 115 feet of colliding in poor visibility conditions.
This occurred when the controller had cleared the FedEx plane to land at the same time as having cleared the Southwest plane to depart.
The investigation into the incident in San Diego by NTSB could take several months before it is concluded.