Southwest Airlines plane aborts landing after close call at Chicago’s Midway Airport

A Southwest Airlines plane and a private business jet narrowly avoided a collision at Chicago’s Midway International Airport on Tuesday morning, CBS News has confirmed.

Video shows Southwest flight 2504 from Omaha coming in for a landing at the airport, then quickly aborting to avoid a potential collision with the business jet that was taxiing across the runway. The Southwest flight was just inches from the ground when the pilots throttled up and climbed skyward to avoid the business jet. Seconds later, the Southwest plane flew over the business jet at an approximate altitude of 250 feet, according to preliminary flight data.

An audio recording from air traffic control shows that the private plane had been cleared to cross one runway, but hold at another. The pilot of the private jet repeated the instructions to the tower incorrectly, and was corrected by the tower. The pilot then repeated the instructions correctly. About 30 seconds later, the Southwest pilot can be heard saying they are “going around.”

Southwest Airlines confirmed the incident, telling CBS News that the crew of the Boeing 737 Max8 performed a “precautionary go-around to avoid a possible conflict with another aircraft that entered the runway.”