Flexjet Crew Blamed For Near Collision With Southwest Flight On Chicago Runway

Planes nearly collide at Chicago Midway Airport

A Southwest jet attempting to land at Chicago Midway Airport nearly collided with a private jet.

A private jet crew is to blame for the nearly catastrophic collision involving a Southwest Airlines flight on Tuesday morning at Chicago Midway Airport, a head official for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed.

During an interview with "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday morning, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said the crew of the Flexjet was told by air traffic controllers to "line up and wait and hold short of runway 31C, which Southwest was landing on, and they failed to do so."

Due to the jet entering the "runway without authorization," the Southwest Airlines Flight 2504 crew had to initiate a go-around maneuver, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement on Tuesday. The federal agency added that it's investigating the incident involving the Southwest Airlines flight that departed from Omaha, Nebraska at at 8:26 a.m. and didn't land in Chicago until 10:10 a.m., according to FlightAware.

Homendy said the NTSB will also investigate to determine whether or not to take any punitive action against the Flexjet crew.

"There's a lot of information we still have to collect. We want to know what was going on in the cockpit of that airplane," Homendy said during her interview on Wednesday. "We will collect air traffic control communications. We have asked for the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from Flexjet."

In a statement obtained by USA TODAY, a FlexJet spokesperson said, "We are aware of the occurrence today in Chicago. Flexjet adheres to the highest safety standards and we are conducting a thorough investigation. Any action to rectify and ensure the highest safety standards will be taken."

President Donald Trump reacted to the incident on Truth Social on Wednesday, suggesting that the Flexjet pilots were possibly "sleeping."

"GREAT JOB BY THE SOUTHWEST PILOTS IN CHICAGO. A NEARLY TRAGIC CLOSE CALL. PERHAPS SUSPEND THE PILOTS LICENSE OF THE OTHER PLANE, WHO MUST HAVE BEEN "SLEEPING!" Trump's Truth Social post says.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy also commented on the incident Wednesday in a post on X: "The @NTSB and @FAANews are investigating the Chicago Midway International Airport incident. I will provide more updates once I have them."

"However, it is imperative that pilots follow the instructions of air traffic controllers," Duffy's social media post continued. "If they do not, their licenses will be pulled."

Southwest Airlines backed its crew's decision to perform a "precautionary go-around," with the airline saying in a statement, "The Crew followed safety procedures and the flight landed without incident. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees."

A live air traffic control (ATC) broadcast shows what the Flexjet crew was told moments before and after the near collision. Before entering the runway, the ground air traffic controller told the private jet to "turn left on runway four-left, cross runway three-one left and hold short runway three-one center," according to the broadcast obtained by Reuters.

After being told by air traffic controllers to "hold short of runway," the Flexjet ultimately proceeds onto the airstrip prompting the Southwest Airlines flight to go around them, the broadcast indicates.

"Flexjet 560 possible pilot deviation. Advise you to contact Midway tower at the number when you're ready to copy," a ground air traffic controller is heard saying in the broadcast.

After nearly avoiding the business jet, the Southwest Airlines crew even asks, "How'd that happen?"

Reuters contributed to this story.

Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com.