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 Fight 1152.
Apparently realizing his mistake, the controller suddenly ordered Flight 507 to climb from 2,000 feet 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 Alert from its collision avoidance system.
Resolution Alerts are generated by Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) device that are on all commercial aircraft. Typically, TCAS alerts instructs one aircraft to climb while directing the other to descend.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates has reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration for comment.
This is a developing story. Stay with NewsChannel 5 and NewsChannel5.com for details as they become available. If you were on either flight, please email me: phil.williams@newschannel5.com.