A pair of Southwest Airlines aircraft narrowly avoided a midair collision Saturday evening at Nashville International Airport when an air traffic controller’s instructions placed the jets on a dangerous collision course.
The close call occurred around 5:30 p.m. when one aircraft was attempting a second landing approach due to gusty wind conditions while another Southwest plane was departing from a parallel runway. Audio recordings from LiveATC.net reveal that both pilots received collision avoidance system warnings and immediately took corrective action, with one aircraft climbing and the other descending to prevent impact.
Flight tracking data indicates the aircraft came within roughly 500 feet of each other, with one jet passing directly over the other. According to FlightRadar24 information, this distance meets the official criteria for a near midair collision, though investigators will determine the exact separation during their review.
The incident began when the pilot of Southwest flight 507 executed a go-around maneuver due to windy conditions and received air traffic control instructions to turn. However, this direction put the aircraft directly in the path of another Southwest jet that had just become airborne. When the controller recognized the danger and instructed the departing plane to remain below 2,000 feet, the pilot reported already exceeding that altitude.
This near-miss comes less than a year after a tragic collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C., which claimed 67 lives on January 29, 2025. That crash highlighted concerns about midair collisions, though such incidents remain uncommon in commercial aviation due to sophisticated collision avoidance technology.
Most annual close calls involve smaller aircraft lacking these safety systems, while several actual collisions occur yearly among general aviation planes, including a February 2025 Arizona crash that resulted in two fatalities.
The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into Saturday’s incident. Agency officials confirmed that flight 507 “received instructions from air traffic control that put the flight in the path of another airplane that was departing from a parallel runway. Both flight crews responded to onboard alerts.”
Southwest Airlines spokesperson Lynn Lunsford praised the pilots’ response to the emergency situation. “Southwest appreciates the professionalism of its pilots and flight crews in responding to the event. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees,” Lunsford said in a statement.
The spokesperson confirmed that windy conditions at Nashville International Airport necessitated the initial go-around attempt and that both flight crews properly followed air traffic control directions and collision avoidance system guidance to prevent a catastrophic outcome.
