Southwest flight narrowly avoids collision with helicopter at Hollywood Burbank Airport
A plane nearly collided with a helicopter at a southern California airport on Saturday, just days after the The Federal Aviation Administration held a summit on growing security concerns.
FAA officials saying A Southwest flight was approaching a runway at Hollywood Burbank Airport around 9:50 a.m. Saturday when an air traffic controller noticed a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter on the same runway.
According to an FAA statement, the helicopter had been practicing touch-and-go landings. After noticing the problem, the controller told the plane to turn around.
No one was injured and the matter is being investigated by the FAA at this time.
A similar situation played out at the Burbank airport in February after a Mesa Airlines flight was told to abort its landing when a SkyWest plane was cleared to take off on the same runway. That was the fourth such incident in 2023.
A plane nearly collided with a helicopter at a Southern California airport on Saturday, just days after the Federal Aviation Administration held a summit on growing safety concerns.
FAA officials said a Southwest flight was approaching a runway at Hollywood Burbank Airport around 9:50 a.m. Saturday.
When the plane was about a mile away, an air traffic controller noticed a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter on the same runway.
According to NBC 4 Los Angeles, the Southwest flight, a Boeing 737, was only a mile from the runway.
The air traffic controller who noticed the serious safety problem told the helicopter to stay on the runway and the Southwest pilot to “go around” and not land.
During a similar incident last month at the same Southern California airport, an automatic alarm went off inside the Mesa Airlines plane as the planes worked to avoid a near collision.
The February scare was reportedly one of the main contributing factors leading the FAA to hold an impromptu safety summit to address growing concerns.
Just weeks before the Burbank near miss, two Alaska Airlines planes scraped their tails off the runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as they took off.
That near miss was blamed on a software bug that made pilots think their planes were 20,000 pounds lighter.
The problem was deemed serious enough that Alaska Airlines initiated a nationwide stoppage of all aircraft immediately afterward, according to the seattle times.
At the time, an Alaska Airlines spokesperson confirmed to DailyMail.com that the incident occurred and that the grounding lasted about 20 minutes.
“The tail dabs were caused by a vendor software update that installed a code in error, resulting in inaccurate takeoff performance weight data for a small subset of our flights,” they said.
Just a few weeks before that, a separate flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport nearly saw a similar accident, as a Delta plane nearly crashed head-on into the side of an American Airlines plane that crossed onto its runway.
The Boeing 737 was already traveling at 115 mph when an air traffic controller noticed the impending disaster.
The pilot of the Southwest Airlines flight was told to “go around” to avoid a collision
The air traffic controller at the Hollywood Burbank airport told the helicopter to stay put.
During a similar incident last month at the same Southern California airport, an automatic alarm went off inside the Mesa Airlines plane as the planes worked to avoid a near collision.
Mesa Airlines CRJ900 came within minutes of colliding with another plane in February
Air traffic control allowed a SkyWest plane to take off unhindered after the crash
The February near-disaster occurred at the Hollywood Burbank airport, pictured
another nearby incident it happened on March 7 between a Republic Airways flight and a United Airlines plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The Republic flight had crossed a runway and was on its way to collide with the United plane that had been cleared for takeoff.
That incident is also being investigated by the FAA at this time.
In an interview with NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt, FAA administrator Billy Nolen said officials have begun ‘seeing things we don’t expect to see’.
“We expect each flight to operate as it should,” Nolen said.
“And so we’ve had these events in recent weeks. That gives us a moment to say, “Let’s stop. Let’s reflect. Let’s ask ourselves the question: Are we missing something?” she said.
Nolen said more people are flying and more planes are in the air because of a “suppressed demand to fly.”
“Flying is back with a bang, so to speak,” Nolen said.
Talking with NBC 4 Los AngelesRetired commercial pilot and aviation expert Ross ‘Rusty’ Aimer echoed Nolen’s remarks.
“Airlines are increasing flights as much as they can. Everyone is up in the air,’ Aimer said.
Despite the series of close calls, Aimer says people generally shouldn’t worry.
“But the system is secure,” Aimer said. The system is working.
The pilot behind Miracle on the Hudson, Capt. Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, who now works as an aviation security expert, said close calls at US airports ‘are the canaries in the coal mine. ‘.
“We have missed many of our flights and the recovery from COVID has been faster than many expected, so we have fallen short in many important ways and in staffing,” Sullenberger told the Today Show.
Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, who now works as an aviation security expert, said close calls at US airports “are the canaries in the coal mine.”
JFK, JANUARY 13: There was a panic at JFK in New York when a Delta plane was forced to abort its takeoff after it crashed with an American Airlines plane. An air traffic controller was heard exclaiming ‘Shit!’ when he saw that the US plane had crossed from an adjacent taxiway, he ordered the other plane: ‘Delta 1943 cancel takeoff clearance!’
In January, a flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport nearly suffered a similar accident, as a Delta plane nearly nose-dived into the side of an American Airlines plane that skidded across the runway.
The Boeing 737 was already traveling at 115 mph when an air traffic controller noticed the impending disaster.
The Delta pilot was forced to abruptly apply the brake, traveling another 661 feet before coming to a complete stop with just 1,000 feet to spare before the plane collided with the American Airlines Boeing 777.
Even though the massive planes nearly collided, the Delta pilot was later heard on cockpit audio recordings casually saying that he’ll simply have to make a few phone calls about the near-fatal crash.
The close calls join a growing list of fiascoes for the nation’s aviation industry, which has led to an impending federal review of the nation’s aerospace system.
According to the FAA, the number of “runway incursions” reached 1,633 last year.
A runway incursion is any time an aircraft, vehicle or person is improperly in a protected area while an aircraft is taking off or landing.
The terrifying number of close calls has risen from 1,397 in 2012, while only 987 incidents were reported in 2002.