FAA Probes Nashville Near Miss After Southwest Jets Come Within 500 Feet
The FAA is investigating a near miss after two Southwest jets came within about 500 feet Saturday evening near Nashville. The incident happened around 5:30 p.m. local time near Nashville International Airport. Southwest Flight 507 from Myrtle Beach executed a go-around because of gusty winds and was instructed to turn right by air traffic control. That instruction put Flight 507 into the path of departing Southwest Flight 1152 to Knoxville, which had just taken off from a parallel runway. Onboard traffic alerts prompted both crews to maneuver and preliminary radar and flight data show the aircraft may have come as close as about 500 feet vertically.
The FAA confirmed it has opened a safety investigation and said controller directions placed the landing aircraft directly in another plane's path. Southwest praised crew professionalism and said they followed both air traffic control instructions and the onboard traffic alert. Aviation analyst Robert Sumwalt noted the Traffic Collision Avoidance System, or TCAS, is the final line of defense when controllers issue conflicting vectors. Social media posts from CBS amplified live updates and raised public concern about how close the planes came.
Initial reporting emphasized that air traffic control put the landing jet in the departing jet's path and called the event a near miss. Later accounts, led by the New York Times, used flight recordings and radar tracks to map the sequence of vectors and confirm the traffic alerts and closer separation. That reporting shifted the narrative from a simple controller mistake to a more complex mix of gusty winds, go-around procedures, controller vectors and last-resort TCAS interventions.
📌 Key Facts
- The incident occurred around 5:30 p.m. local time Saturday near Nashville International Airport.
- Southwest Flight 507 (from Myrtle Beach) executed a precautionary go-around because of gusty winds and was instructed by air traffic control to turn right, while departing Southwest Flight 1152 (to Knoxville) was taking off from a parallel runway.
- The FAA says air traffic control instructions put Flight 507 into the path of the departing Flight 1152, placing the two aircraft on converging trajectories during the go-around and departure.
- Preliminary tracking data (cited FlightRadar24 and FAA/NYTimes analysis) indicate the aircraft came to roughly 500 feet of vertical separation as Flight 1152 passed over Flight 507—an amount that could meet the official definition of a near midair collision.
- Both flight crews received onboard traffic-alert (TCAS) warnings, responded and maneuvered to avoid a potential midair conflict; aviation analyst Robert Sumwalt noted TCAS serves as a last line of defense.
- The FAA has opened an investigation into the close call and has issued statements about controller instructions; both the FAA and Southwest have provided updated or clarified comments on the scope of the safety probe.
- Southwest issued a formal statement praising the crews’ professionalism and saying pilots complied with both air traffic control instructions and the onboard traffic alerts.
- Reporters and investigators are using flight recordings and radar tracks to reconstruct a detailed sequence of vectors and altitude changes to refine estimates of the closest separation and confirm which systems issued alerts.
📰 Source Timeline (5)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- Confirms the incident timeline and controller instructions that placed the planes on converging paths during the go-around and departure.
- Provides additional narrative detail from flight recordings and radar tracks about the sequence of vectors and altitude changes.
- Includes fresh or more precise statements from the FAA and possibly from Southwest about the scope of the safety investigation.
- Offers refined estimates or confirmation of the closest separation between the aircraft and clarifies which systems (like TCAS) issued alerts.
- CBS piece reinforces that an FAA investigation is underway into the Nashville near miss.
- It restates that FAA officials say air traffic control instructions put one Southwest flight into the path of another.
- No materially new numbers, timelines, or procedural details are added beyond confirming the close-call framing.
- Confirms the incident occurred around 5:30 p.m. local time on Saturday near Nashville International Airport.
- Details that Southwest Flight 507 from Myrtle Beach executed a go-around due to gusty winds and was instructed to turn right.
- Identifies the departing aircraft as Southwest Flight 1152 to Knoxville taking off from a parallel runway.
- Reports preliminary flight data indicating roughly 500 feet of vertical separation as Flight 1152 passed over Flight 507.
- Includes FAA statement explicitly acknowledging that air traffic control instructions put Flight 507 in the path of another airplane.
- Provides Southwest's formal statement praising crew professionalism and emphasizing customer and employee safety.
- Quotes aviation safety analyst Robert Sumwalt explaining the role of the Traffic Collision Avoidance System as a last line of defense.
- FAA says Southwest Flight 507, during a go-around, received air traffic control instructions that put it in the path of departing Southwest Flight 1152 from a parallel runway.
- Both flight crews responded to onboard traffic-alert systems and maneuvered to avoid a potential midair conflict.
- Southwest states the go-around was precautionary due to gusty winds and that pilots complied with both ATC instructions and the traffic alert.
- FlightRadar24 data cited in the report suggests the aircraft may have come as close as about 500 feet apart vertically, potentially fitting the official definition of a near midair collision.