NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Two Southwest Airlines jets were forced to take evasive action late Saturday afternoon just north of Nashville International Airport to avoid a potential midair collision, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has discovered.
A review of air traffic data and ATC recordings indicates that a controller inadvertently turned a Southwest Boeing 737 Max 8 into the path of a Southwest Boeing 737-700 that was taking off from the airport. Pilots in both aircraft indicated that they took evasive action in response to Resolution Alerts (RAs) from their on-board collision avoidance systems.
The Max 8 aircraft, Southwest Flight 507, was heading from Myrtle Beach to Nashville and had been cleared to land on Runway 2 Left. For unknown reasons, the data suggests the flight crew decided to execute a "go-around" instead of landing.
At the same time, the 737-700, Southwest Flight 1152, was taking off for Knoxville from Runway 2 Right, just to the east of the other aircraft.
Seconds later, the air traffic controller directed Flight 507 to turn right, putting it into a potential conflict with Flight 1152.
Apparently realizing his mistake, the controller suddenly ordered Flight 507 to climb from 2,000 feet in altitude to 3,000 feet, while directing Flight 1152 to hold at 2,000 feet.
"We're already past it," Flight 1152 responded.
The controller answered, " He's already in the turn. Flight 507, descend and maintain 2,000."
"Down to 2,000," Flight 507 quickly shot back.
A short time later, Flight 1152 informed the controller, "We are out of the RA."
Flight 507 acknowledged it had also responded to the Resolution Advisory from its collision avoidance system.
Resolution Advisories are generated by the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) device that is on all commercial aircraft. Typically, TCAS alerts instruct one aircraft to climb while directing the other to descend.
Monday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration released a statement confirming NewsChannel 5's reporting:
"The crew of Southwest Airlines Flight 507 initiated a go-around at Nashville International Airport and then received instructions from air traffic control that put the flight in the path of another airplane that was departing from a parallel runway. Both flight crews responded to onboard alerts. The FAA is investigating the event that occurred around 5:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, April 18."
If you were on either flight, I would like to hear your story. Please email me: phil.williams@newschannel5.com.