Safety officials release details of their investigation into a close call between planes in Texas
By DAVID KOENIG
AP Airlines Writer
DALLAS (AP) — Safety officials are releasing details of their investigation into a close call between a FedEx plane and a Southwest Airlines jet earlier this year in Austin, Texas. The National Transportation Safety Board made the details public on Wednesday. The board will likely determine a probable cause for the incident next year. The air traffic controller who cleared both planes to use the same runway says he couldn’t see the Southwest jet because of thick fog. And he thought it would take off quickly enough to clear the runway for the FedEx plane. But that didn’t happen. The FedEx pilots saw the Southwest jet at the last minute and aborted their landing, averting a disaster.