Two planes narrowly avoided a disaster on the tarmac at Nashville International Airport Thursday morning, according to authorities.
Alaska Airlines 369 blew out its tires in an effort to avoid colliding with Southwest Airlines Flight 2029 on the runway at about 9:15 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said.
According to Flightradar24, the Alaska Airlines plane was traveling at 120 mph when the pilot pulled the brake. The flight was given clearance from air traffic control, the airline said.
As the 737 Max 9 taxied and began to accelerate, the pilots of the Alaska plane quickly aborted their take off upon seeing a Southwest Airlines plane crossing the same runway.
That Southwest Airlines plane – scheduled to fly to Jacksonville, Fla. – was also cleared to cross that runway by air traffic control, according to the FAA.
NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy said at a briefing, “We are clearly very concerned about this (incident) and others we are investigating.”
She also had questions about a new technology that was meant to be put to use at Nashville International Airport by July.
The FAA in July announced it would be installing new runway safety technology at four airports across the country.
One of the airports listed by the agency for their new program is the Nashville International Airport.
FAA officials did not comment on whether the technology had been implemented at the time of this morning’s near-miss.
The technology is dubbed Surface Awareness Initiative, and is meant to “reduce the risk of runway incursions”.
“This cost effective technology provides controllers with timely and accurate depictions of aircraft and vehicles on the entire airfield in all weather conditions,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker back in April.
Chairman Homendy said it was unsure if SAI was in use, but indicated to the press that it was a primary question in her investigation, “Was it online on that runway? Did warnings go off?”
Both Southwest and Alaska Airlines say they will cooperate and participate with investigations by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The 176 passengers and six crew members on board the Alaska Airlines flight were moved to another plane after theirs was taken out of commission.
Earlier this week, Southwest Airlines saw a drop in their stock price following the announcement that six members of their board of directors will leave in November, though the company plans to keep CEO Robert Jordan.
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