Distracted controllers allowed planes to come dangerously close on runway: NTSB

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

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