Two Southwest Jets Come Within 500 Feet of Midair Collision Near Nashville After Air Traffic Controller Error

The Federal Aviation Administration launched a formal investigation Monday into a near-midair collision between two Southwest Airlines jets at Nashville International Airport that aviation safety officials described as one of the closest calls recorded in the national airspace system in the past decade. The incident, which occurred on the afternoon of April 18, involved a Southwest Boeing 737 cleared for takeoff from runway 2L crossing directly into the path of a second Southwest 737 that had been cleared to land on runway 31. Both aircraft came within approximately 300 feet vertically and less than a mile horizontally of each other before the landing aircraft executed a go-around.

The FAA said in a statement that air traffic control instructions had been issued that created a conflict between the two aircraft, though the agency declined to characterize the nature of the error while the investigation was open. According to preliminary information obtained by aviation safety reporters, a controller had cleared the departing aircraft onto the active runway while the arriving aircraft was already established on final approach and below 1,000 feet — a configuration that created a runway incursion risk compounded by the geometry of Nashville's intersecting runway configuration. The arriving crew declared a go-around on their own initiative without waiting for a controller instruction, a decision that aviation safety experts said almost certainly prevented a collision.

Nashville International has been identified in previous FAA safety studies as a high-complexity airspace environment due to its two sets of intersecting runways and its position as a major Southwest hub that handles a high volume of same-airline traffic. The airport has seen traffic increase substantially over the past five years as Nashville has grown into one of the fastest-expanding metropolitan areas in the United States, with flight operations up approximately 18 percent since 2021. Controller staffing at the Nashville Terminal Radar Approach Control facility has been below target levels for much of the past two years, a situation that the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said contributed to fatigue and potential errors.

The Transportation Safety Board confirmed it was sending investigators to Nashville to assist with the FAA probe. Both flight crews were interviewed by investigators and agreed to cooperate fully. The black box data from both aircraft and the audio recordings of the air traffic control communications have been secured. Southwest Airlines issued a statement saying the safety of its customers and crew was its highest priority and that it was cooperating fully with federal investigators.

Aviation safety advocates noted that the incident follows a series of runway incursion events at major U.S. airports over the past three years, including a near-collision at Austin-Bergstrom in 2023 and the fatal crash at Muan International Airport in South Korea in late 2024. The FAA has been under pressure from Congress to accelerate hiring of air traffic controllers, with the agency currently operating with roughly 3,000 fewer fully certified controllers than it considers optimal. The House Transportation Committee scheduled an emergency briefing for Wednesday to receive an update from the FAA administrator on the Nashville incident and broader controller staffing issues.