Southwest Jet Aborts Landing at Chicago Midway, Avoids Hitting Private Plane

A Southwest Airlines aircraft lands at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Calif., on Oct. 18, 2020. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A Southwest Airlines jet narrowly avoided a collision while trying to land at Chicago Midway Airport on Feb. 25 after a private jet taxied across a runway without authorization.

At around 8:50 a.m. CT, Southwest Airlines Flight 2504—a Boeing 737-800 en route from Omaha—quickly aborted its landing and flew over a FlexJet Challenger on Runway 31C before performing a go-around.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was investigating the incident in a statement to The Epoch Times.

In a video posted to social media, the Southwest jet can be seen nearly touching down on the runway before quickly pulling up and narrowly missing the FlexJet as the latter crossed the runway.

The crew “followed safety procedures, and the flight landed without incident,” Southwest said.

The close call comes amid increased scrutiny as the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigate a series of deadly aviation incidents over the past two months.

Those include the catastrophic midair collision between an army helicopter and a commercial jet over the Potomac River in Washington, which killed all 67 onboard both aircraft, a Medevac jet crash in Philadelphia that killed seven, and a regional airline crash near Nome, Alaska that killed 10.

The NTSB said in its preliminary report on the Washington crash that the helicopter was flying above the authorized altitude and the crew may not have heard a critical air traffic control instruction moments before the collision.

Several near-misses have occurred on busy American runways over the past two years, raising concerns regarding aviation safety as the FAA still faces a critical shortage of air traffic controllers.

In October 2024, the FAA said it was auditing runway incursion risks at the nation’s 45 busiest airports and would likely release the findings in early 2025.

The audit will include a risk profile for every airport, identify any holes in equipment, procedures, and processes, and recommend safety improvements.

On Feb. 24, the agency said it was investigating a different incident involving a close call in Houston on Sunday. The crew of Air Shuttle Flight 6034 performed a go-around following an unstable approach and conflicted with a departing SkyWest Airlines flight.

While air traffic control gave both flight crews corrective instructions, the Air Shuttle crew flew above their assigned altitude.

Air travel remains the safest form of transportation, and many of these smaller incidents are common, Juan Browne, a pilot for one of the major U.S. airlines, told The Epoch Times.

“Every time something happens, it’s highlighted in the media, and oftentimes these other incidents, they’re fairly regular occurrences, but these errors are usually trapped and a larger accident is prevented,” he said.