A Southwest Airlines flight landing at Chicago Midway Airport nearly turned into a disaster after a private jet casually strolled across the runway as if it were a crosswalk. With mere seconds to spare, the Southwest crew pulled off a last-minute touch-and-go, lifting off just before impact.
The now-viral video (original source StreamTime Live YouTube) shows the Southwest jet just feet from touchdown when a Flexjet private jet inexplicably crosses the active runway. It’s the kind of scene that makes even seasoned pilots and aviation nerds suck in their breath.
ATC recordings later revealed that the private jet had been explicitly told to hold short of the runway: a pretty standard request when, you know, a commercial jet is about to land on it. Instead, the Flexjet crew botched their readback, acknowledged the correction, and still crossed directly into the Southwest jet’s path.
Despite being inches away from a major runway incursion, the Southwest crew kept their composure. On the ATC frequency, after the near miss, the pilot radioed in with the perfectly measured understatement:
“Uh… how’d that happen?”
Translation: “We were two seconds from turning this plane into a fireball, and you’re telling me someone just casually taxied through?”
Reddit users didn’t hold back in expressing their disbelief. One comment summed it up perfectly:
“That’s how a Tuesday goes from ‘la-da-dee la-dee-da’ to ‘oh F* my career’ in 20 seconds flat.”**
If you know anything about air traffic control lingo, you’ll know “Call this number when you land” is about as comforting as hearing “We need to talk” in a relationship.
FAA officials will almost certainly be knocking on Flexjet’s door within 24 hours for a “chat.” Possible consequences range from license suspension to career-ending repercussions –which, given how close this was to becoming another Tenerife disaster, seems entirely warranted.
Aviation enthusiasts were quick to compare the situation to the 1977 Tenerife airport disaster, which remains the deadliest crash in aviation history, killing 583 people in a runway collision eerily similar to this one. The is that the Southwest pilots saw the incursion in time and had enough altitude and speed to go around safely.
Ultimately, this was a pilot error on the part of the private jet crew, not ATC. As one Redditor put it:
“Even if ATC said go for it, ‘look both ways before crossing’ is something even my 6-year-old understands.”
Given the catastrophic consequences this could have had, it’s safe to say Flexjet 560 won’t be taxiing anywhere near a runway without a triple-check anytime soon. Meanwhile, Southwest’s pilots deserve a round of applause for turning a potential tragedy into just another “you won’t believe what happened on my flight” story.
