Distracted controllers allowed planes to come dangerously close on a San Diego runway, NTSB says

Key Points

• The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported that a private jet came within 100 feet of colliding with a Southwest Airlines plane on a San Diego runway due to distractions faced by air traffic controllers.
• Both the controller and their supervisor made poor judgments that distracted them from monitoring landings, with the controller addressing an unrelated altitude correction and the supervisor troubleshooting a printer issue.
• The incident occurred in August 2023 and highlights increasing concerns over aviation safety following recent tragic crashes, including a fatal airliner and helicopter collision.
• Fortunately, the advanced surface radar system at San Diego airport acted as a crucial safety backup, allowing the private jet to avert disaster by circling and landing safely.

Investigators say that a private jet came within 100 feet of crashing into a Southwest Airlines plane on a runway in San Diego two years ago because the air traffic controllers in the tower got distracted.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued its final report Tuesday on the incident that happened in August 2023.

Both the controller directing those planes and the supervisor made bad choices that day that took their attention away from the landing, the NTSB said. Tragedy was averted because the airport’s automated system for tracking planes and vehicles on the ground alerted the controller to the potential conflict, and the private jet was able to pull up and circle before landing safely.

Close calls like this only add to the worries about aviation safety these days in the wake of the deadliest plane crash in the United States in decades when an airliner collided with an Army helicopter and other crashes and near misses that followed. Then in June an Air India plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all but one of the 242 people aboard and 29 others on the ground.

The NTSB said the San Diego controller who was overseeing the landings that day used poor judgment when they decided to call the regional FAA radar facility about correcting the altitude of an unrelated plane as the business jet was approaching for landing. The controller acknowledged that mistake in an interview after the incident.

Another factor that contributed to the planes coming so close is that the controller's supervisor in the tower was also distracted. The NTSB said the supervisor was in the middle of troubleshooting a problem with a printer the controllers use. The supervisor decided to try to fix the printer instead of just switching over to the backup printer, taking their attention away from the landing operation, the report said.

Fortunately the San Diego airport is one of 35 major airports where the FAA has installed advanced surface radar systems to help track aircraft and vehicles on the ground. That system provided a crucial backup layer of safety that prevented a crash in this incident.