Plane disaster averted! Pilot aborts last-minute landing to dodge close call with private jet, video goes viral

Weeks after a series of plane disasters hit the United States, coming on the heels of terminations in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), another such tragedy was averted by a mindful Southwest Airlines pilot by aborting a last-minute landing upon spotting a private plane on the runway.

A video of the Southwest Airlines pilot briefly touching the runway before smoothly taking off again is now going viral on social media.

Plane disaster averted: Viral video

The incident happened on the Chicago Midway International Airport around 8:50 am when Southwest Flight 2504 from Omaha attempted to land.

The viral video shows the pilot executing a “go around” when a private jet comes closer to plane on the runway that the passenger plane was set to use. “Go around” is a technique where a pilot aborts a landing and quickly regains altitude.

An airline spokesperson said that the Southwest Flight 2504 safely landed “after the crew performed a precautionary go-around to avoid a possible conflict with another aircraft that entered the runway.”

Audio recording of communication between the smaller jet and the control tower recorded its pilot misstating instructions from a ground tower employee, who repeated that the pilot should “hold short” of a runway.

About 30 seconds later, the ground tower ordered the pilot “hold your position there.”

The tower employee is then heard saying: “FlexJet560, your instructions were to hold short of runway 31 center.”

A recording of the communication between the Southwest crew and a ground tower employee captures the pilot reporting, “Southwest 2504 going around” and rising again to 3,000 feet.

Seconds later, the audio captures the pilot asking the tower: “Southwest 2504, how’d that happen?”

According to the FAA, the private plane entered the runway without authorisation.