Southwest flight returns to air after runway not clear at Austin airport, FAA says

Mercedez Hernandez
·2 min read
26

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Data from a Southwest flight from Nashville to Austin indicates a plane was 600ft off the ground before it returned to the air for several minutes Monday night. A viewer tip said the plane circled in the air to avoid an aircraft already on the runway.

The tip sent in through ReportIt@kxan.com said the flight started its descent just after 6pm. It said the pilot of the plane announced “there was a small aircraft on the runway moving too slow so they couldn’t land.”

FlightAware data from Monday showed Nashville flight SWA2959 starting its landing to AUS at 6:08 p.m., getting down to 600ft before climbing back up to 2,850ft. The plane then returned for a landing at 6:17 p.m.

A spokesperson with Southwest said the situation described “sounds like a standard go-around procedure” and that this is something “pilots train for and encounter somewhat regularly.”

In a statement, the FAA said “an air traffic controller instructed Southwest Airlines Flight 2959 to perform a go-around at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 6:06 p.m. local time on Monday, December 4, because another aircraft had not yet exited the runway. There was no loss of safe separation between the Southwest flight and any other aircraft.”

V. Carson Pearce, director of aviation science at Texas A&M University Central Texas said go-around maneuvers are a semi-regular occurrence for pilots and are not necessarily caused by an emergency.

“I’ve done go arounds where I found animals on the runway or trash that blew in during a windstorm so it’s whatever the condition is. If the pilot or tower determines that it’s a potential hazard to the aircraft, it’s safer to go around, let things settle,” Pearce said.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a near midair collision is defined as when “a possibility of collision occurs as a result of proximity of less than 500 feet to another aircraft, or a report is received from a pilot or a flight crewmember stating that a collision hazard existed between two or more aircraft.”

Over the last year, there have been several near-misses at the Austin airport which has prompted agencies to step in and improve safety measures.

NTSB continues investigating near-miss between 2 planes at AUS in February

Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board released a 3,000 page report about a near miss at AUS in February.

In this incident, a FedEx flight had been cleared for landing – shortly before its expected landing a Southwest flight was cleared to depart from the same runway.

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