Southwest plane in terrifying near-miss at Maine airport: ‘I tried warning him’

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 flying from Portland, Maine to Baltimore suffered a heartbreaking incident Tuesday morning.

The plane took off from runway 29 at 5:43 a.m., just two minutes before it was scheduled to open to traffic.

Alarmingly, the runway was undergoing a safety inspection at the time, while a ground vehicle was present.

Although no one was injured in the incident, the situation raised serious concerns.

After the near collision, the driver of the ground vehicle contacted the control tower. He questioned why the plane had been cleared to take off from a closed runway.

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 flying from Portland, Maine to Baltimore suffered a heartbreaking incident Tuesday morning

Shockingly, the tower responded that they had never communicated with the pilots.

Leaked air traffic control footage shows controllers repeatedly attempting to warn Flight 4805 about the vehicle and the closed runway.

One recording even shows a controller saying, “Just to clarify, there is a vehicle on the runway and it is closed… I tried to warn him.”

This incident raises questions about communication issues and safety protocols at the airport and is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is also investigating the incident.

In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson said, “Southwest Airlines is working with the NTSB and FAA to understand the circumstances surrounding the early morning departure of Flight 4805 from Portland International Jetport on Tuesday, June 25, to its destination.”

Boeing is under increasing scrutiny after a series of worrying incidents in recent months.

The latest incident occurred on June 25, when a flight from southwest Portland, Maine (Flight 4805) took off from a closed runway, narrowly avoiding a ground vehicle. This incident follows two other disturbing events.

On June 20, a southwest flight from Las Vegas (Flight 4069) descended to a dangerously low altitude while approaching Oklahoma City Airport.

The plane descended to a height of only 520 feet and was miles away from landing, triggering an alarm from air traffic control.

Even earlier, in late May, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max experienced a terrifying “Dutch Roll” during a flight from Phoenix to Oakland.

In this maneuver, the tail of the aircraft moves back and forth and the wings roll up and down. This caused what the FAA calls “substantial” damage, forcing the plane to be grounded for repairs.

Their goal is to determine the root cause of each problem and implement the necessary safety measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.