ATC Instructor guy here. I appreciate your comments about SWA moving quickly and all the controller was trying to do was we call a “squeeze play.” However, without knowing the waivers at Austin the controller was at fault for several reasons: 1. Even VFR, which it wasn’t, trying to push out a departure in front of a heavy on 3-mile final won’t work. 2. The controller violated the ILS Critical Area for a CAT III approach. You don’t put someone in position in front of a CAT III, unless you have specific procedures for this. 3. In the event of a Go Around, which happened here, the controller does not have the required radar separation. Heck, they didn’t even have runway separation!! Obviously this was never going to work regardless of the airlines involved.

Gotta say , Kelsey, the animations and airport layouts really help. The editing improvements are much appreciated !!

The last time I flew Southwest we hit some turbulence and the "put your butts back in your seats" light came on. People ignored that because they had urgent business elsewhere. Then the main flight attendant, who looked and sounded a lot like Woody Harrelson, stood up in the front of the cabin and made it clear he wasn't joking. "Get back in your seats before I come back there and make you do it." It wasn't exactly that, but it was close. And I totally respect that guy. Southwest is... different.

I'm an ex-USAF ARFF firefighter, so while not a pilot, I spent a lot of time on runways, taxiways, etc and listening to ATC radio traffic. What I did not hear the controller say to the SWA flight was "without delay" when he cleared them to take off. Two words that could have conveyed to the SWA pilot he needed to do as SWA normally does, and move quickly. I've heard ATC give this instruction many times, either to get ground equipment off runways/taxiways, or to get aircraft out of the way of other aircraft.

As an air traffic controller, I have to say that this was a borderline insane clearance from the tower. We have Cat 3 operations at Vancouver, where I worked for many years, and the minimum arrival/departure separation is that a departure must be AIRBORNE before the CAT 2/3 arrival is FOUR miles from touchdown. Southwest would also have been holding at the CAT 2/3 hold line, which is farther from the runway. There is zero chance that the operation would have been possible. Bizarre.

Hello Kelsey. I have been a controller since 1985, a USAF Rapcon, and 2 FAA facilities. I understand everything you said, and it makes sense from where you sit. But, when the field is IFR, ATC has a 2 mile increasing to 3 rule. The tower controller can clear an aircraft for takeoff in front of an arriving aircraft to the same runway, but you must have 2 miles between a/c at all times, and the situation must also increase to at least 3 miles within a minute after the departure. All this being said, there is NO way the tower controller would be able to comply with our rules in this situation. Impossible with a 767 on a 3 mile final, and the 737 holding short. This may have "worked" if the 737 was already in position. The tower controller is 100% to blame. Did the FDX pilot confuse/complicate the matter, hell yes. You are absolutely right about SWA being fast, but in this situation, the tower can't even see the SWA jet, so how can you give him the benefit of the doubt, especially when we have a hard and fast line the controller crossed. I was literally stunned after listening to this after it happened.

Kelsey, great review, but as a retired Fedex captain, I can say you missed one critical system that Fedex airplanes have to improve the pilot's vision in low-visibility situations that probably played an important part in this event. Almost all Fedex airplanes have in the Captain's seat a Heads Up Displays with an Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS), that displays imagery in the HUD from a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) camera. The camera is located above the radar on the nose of the aircraft. This system greatly increases the captain's visibility in fog, smog, or smoke, especially when looking at an aircraft from the rear when looking at the engine exhaust. I don't know for sure, but I would bet that the Fedex captain ended up seeing the Southwest airplane in his HUD using the EFVS.

Damn, the calm professionalism on everyone's part was seriously impressive. If I hadn't known the context of the recordings I never would have thought that a catastrophy was only narrowly avoided.

I flew for an airline for 27 years and 23, 000 hrs...you do a fantastic job of explaining all these incidents. I applaud your knowledge, and willingness to share it. Plus it's fun to sit back and remember.

ATC totally messed that one up. They cleared a plane to land on a 3 mile final and then cleared a plane to take off on the same runway. Since there is no specified time for a plane to take off it was just plain irresponsible on the part of ATC to assume that SouthWest will hustle as usual, especially since it was cloudy and foggy. Terrible job by ATC.

As a Tower ATCO myself I have to state (as others already did) that the take-off clearance was absolutely nuts. I don't know the exact low visibility procedures at Austin, but even in the best weather conditions a standard take-off clearance for a plane not already lined-up when a landing one is at 3 NM final is pretty ambitious. 3 NM is roughly 1 min of time until touchdown and a non-rolling take-off from a holding point takes min. 1 min for a 737, often even a little longer with the clearance readbacks etc. Long story short: there's very little room for error in that situation and with low visibility it's extremely dangerous because of that.

As a Safety Professional in industrial settings, we would call this a “Major Near Miss”. It would be handle, and investigated as if it was an actual incident with either injury or property damage. In essence, it’s a freebie. You get to investigate with the intention of improving your safety systems, without having to do so as the result of actual losses.

The controller should have never let the SWA past the ILS hold short line when he knew FedEx was a CATIII.

Thank you for posting a great example of how actual adults handle a stressful situation in a positive and constructive manner.

my dad was an air traffic controller in the US Air Force during the Vietnam war, I never really understood what he did and when I was a really young kid I remember thinking it wasn't one of the "cool" jobs the Air Force had, but as I've gotten older (I'm only 29, he was 49 when I was born) I think it's cool as hell. I've been watching these videos for a couple years now and it just occurred to me to go ask him what it was like back then working at several different very busy US air bases clearing B52's, F4-C Phantoms, big C130's, and the works for landings, takeoffs, and directing aerial refuelings and formations to and from bases. Now that this stuff is as interesting to me as it is, I want to ask him how they did it back then, like what equipment they used. He always wrote in all capital letters and told me that was from his time doing ATC for the USAF and he wrote his "E's" like backwards "3's" and certain letters very differently than I did and used the least amount of strokes possible for writing "4's" and stuff like that, telling me that's how they taught him to write fast and legibly for them as he was hearing radio transmissions coming in from different pilots. He also said he lost a lot of his hearing because certain high ranking officers flying F4's would buzz the tower going supersonic sometimes and it was loud as hell. After finding your videos on ATC and other channel's videos on ATC working under stress and helping emergency aircraft I have a new found respect for what he did, and I thank you for that. When I was a kid, I never understood how crazy and stressful it must have been to have been guiding a limping aircraft back to base who was hit by some big guns and had pieces (or entire) wings missing, sometimes were on fire, or they got hit and their electronics and controls stopped working so they couldn't find their way back to base at night and they had to guide them in by radar and then turn on lights so the plane could find their way to the ground, then sometimes rush out crewmen as they crash landed sometimes, which at some bases the ATC guys would be expected to go out and help fight a fire and help the pilot out, and before major missions they would also help the ground crewmen go load the planes up with bombs, ammo for guns, rockets, fuel, etc. What a crazy job to have and I want to go ask him all about it the next time I see him.

I have a lot of internalised anxiety about airplanes. No idea why, and I'm not that scared while flying in real life, but I have a ton of nightmares about planes. When it starts acting up again, I always come to watch a few of your videos. It has helped me SO MUCH to learn about how many safety mechanisms are in place for planes, pilots, and air traffic control, and knowing that even when things do go a bit south, there is a whole group of people with protocols working to fix it really makes me less scared and also amazed and respectful of all people involved with flying :) thanks for the work that you do and the videos.

As an ATC myself I appreciate you trying to give us as much benefit of the doubt as possible hereZ With that being said…this is 100% on the controller and is unacceptable 🤷🏻‍♂️ If he needed an immediate departure he should’ve said cleared for immediate take off. With low vis like this he wasn’t being as exact as he could’ve been. Also, this controller has a reputation of not being top notch. So not too surprising

The look of severe concentration on his face ever time he’s watching something 😂

What do you mean FedEx pilot created confusion? I saw this whole thing unfold live on flightradar and liveatc The tower should never have let the Southwest anywhere near that runway, there was no reason for them not to hold for FedEx's 3 mile final, it's literally just a few minutes Especially since they took their time getting rolling Fedex crew was absolutely goat in the way they handled this, a lot of people are alive today thanks to them. They sensed something was wrong, double checked with the tower, tower still cleared them to land on top of Southwest and they made a fast decision to start climbing

Kelsey, you are correct in saying that you can squeeze a plane out with another on a 3 mile final(especially southwest), but as controllers, we need to apply the 2 increasing to 3 rule when IFR conditions. Unless southwest had one of the fastest takeoff rolls in aviation history, the controller was never going to be legal

ATC procedures strictly prohibit what the controller did. In layman’s terms: during poor weather, a controller cannot allow a turbojet to pass the final approach fix or 5 mile final while another aircraft is entering the runway for takeoff or hold UNLESS the controller can provide visual separation of both aircraft. The weather was waaaay to bad to try this visually. The controller did not see either aircraft. The controller broke the rules and got lucky.

When the Fedex plane confirmed they were 3 miles to the runway, they were going to be rolling on the runway in 62 seconds. Three miles sounds far, 62 seconds, not so much. That seems like a really short window to allow another aircraft access to the same runway for takeoff.

I worked in occupational safety for a few years in my career and the analysis of close calls is sooo important. It helps prevent incidents from actually happening, and if done right, rules and policies are quickly changed in response to close calls (especially multiple similar close calls).

This was probably one of the best explanations of this scenario. I've seen this incident on MANY airline/flight channels here on the KZfaqs. And, as a sim player, you really did explain things in a very easy and comprehensible way. Thanks!

Thank you for all this! I was flying on my dad's lap when I was 7 years old when my grandfather ran a flight school in Melbourne Florida and chesterfield mo in the 80s. He was a pilot in WW2 and Korean War before becoming ATC and then running private airports. Both my parents became pilots and instructors for my grandpa and I did my 1st solo when I was 10. Rules were different back then (espn when you're family owns and runs the airport and flight school). I never became an actual pilot but now that I'm in my 40s, it's my biggest regret in life. My whole family absolutely loves your videos and seems very nostalgic for us. Thank you!

The way the fedex pilot says "heavy" makes me so happy 😄 Also, Southwest's reputation is why my school joked about taxi speed Vsw, my favorite unpublished V speed

Great explanation of this incident. Non-pilot here but interested in all aspects of professional aviation. AS A NOTE: your Editor did a great job of adding the Flight Sim footage and graphics to add clarity to the story. Also the time-lapse of you getting ready for a flight shows what pilots do to ready for a flight. Excellent work on this.

Austin resident here, I really apprecaite this analysis at a level a non-pilot can understand. Love this channel! ...whatever it decides to become in the future!

Cat 3 low visibility, clearing another plane onto the runway with fedex 3 miles out, that's just should never have happened.

Once the FedEx flight was cleared for the CAT III I was under the impression there could be no aircraft past the ILS hold short markers until the aircraft have landed though. That's where I think the controller screwed up.

From a non-pilot, your videos are absolutely fascinating. Thank you !

I just want to say the animations along with the narration of the events that transpired in recent videos is 10 out of 10. Also, I'm wondering if ATC will be reprimanded for this particular incident?

Kelsey, your professionalism is palpable. I am not a pilot. My background is in submarine operations. While the parallels are tenuous at best, the one trait we appear to share is technical competence and professionalism. Love the channel. Thanks for doing this.

I’ve tried to watch a couple videos about this incident but they were more for pilots so a lot of assumptions were made but you explained perfectly for a non-pilot, non-ATC. The graphics and editing made it even more understandable. Thank you!

So incredibly well articulated and explained which is a major part of what makes this one of the best channels on all of KZfaq. WELL DONE Kelsey you are definitely in the right place my man 👊🏼

Thing is this. Why would you let southwest on the runway, knowing fedex was doing a CAT 3 approach?

Kelsey, love the videos. I work in electrical engineering, nothing to do with aviation. I was once in a situation where I ASSUMED that the senior engineer in charge had done his job and carried out the appropriate disconnections of the electrical supplies (as he had done many times before). On this occasion however, he had omitted to do so. Fortunately, I survived with superficial burns and a pair of vaporised cable shears. One of my old bosses had a saying: Assumption, mother of all f*ck ups!

Kelsey, luv your channel. I have flown but find it absolutely terrifying yet I'm in awe of pilots and staff. I like your laid back personality and have learned so much.

Thank you Kelsey. I've watched some other videos on this incident and none of them come close to your explanation. Thank you for the detail AND context. Knowing SOP for other airlines helps us to understand this situation.

Hey Kelsey, dig the new stylized videos, especially with the animation. Really helps the visuals! Love the vid, keep it up!

You said that TCAS would keep them apart, and I’m not sure it would have done. I forget the actual height but TCAS doesn’t give Resolution Advisories (RAs) below a certain height. It’s possible that both a/c were still below that height and one, or neither, would have received only a Traffic Alert (TA) but not accompanied by any evasive guidance. They would have been able to see their relative positions along with height difference and each a/c’s vertical direction.

I appreciate the technical data. It’s great to learn the information that goes in decision making for safe flights! Thanks K!

The video footage and sound effects are outstanding! This is awesome, thank you for the hard work. Great to watch!

What I don’t understand is why the controller was in such a hurry to get the SW airborne. From other video’s on this incident I learned that traffic was light at the time, so the SW could just have been holding for 2-3 minutes to let the FedEx land and then have all the time in the world to safely take off.

One of the things I think you forgot to point out is that the ILS Critical Area was not being protected. The weather was definitely less than 800ft and 2sm as they were using a CAT III approach, the ILS Critical Area has to be protected! It didn't seem to have much of an effect on the outcome of the situation, but it's just something I was thinking about during the video. Great breakdown!

After discovering your channel and watching all your videos, I was eagerly awaiting another one; I definitely wasn’t disappointed. Thank you for making aviation a lot more accessible. I’ve decided to take a flying lesson thanks to you. Not for a career change, just to try something new

Nice video. Small thing to add: while some airplanes use auto land for CATIII, others (ironically, Southwest) use the HUD and it actually HAS to be hand flown.

After seeing 3 other analyses, I got so much more from yours. Context from 3 different points of view explaining the event without trying to assign blame. You are cautious about not getting off into the weeds yet giving enough info that we backseaters can grasp some of the complexities aviation professionals deal with. Well done.

I remember hearing the audio from this and thinking both pilots really maintained their professionalism during what had to be a stressful situation. The explanation and animations make it much easier to understand exactly what happened and the contributing factors.

Kelsey, this is the only video that I have watched on this incident. I worked for SWA for 20 years and only left due to health. I worked in our operations department 99% of my career. I loved working with the crews and passengers. You’re so right on the SWA culture. We typically do everything fast and on the go. I’ll be very interested in seeing a final report on this. I don’t like the blame game at all. I’m so incredibly thankful that everything did turn out and I know the pilots and controller will be a bit more cautious next time. Bottom line is thank goodness everyone is fine, everyone will learn and move on as the professionals they are. Thanks for a great look at this from all sides! ✈️✈️✈️

Both pilot's professionalism helped to avoid a catastrophe. I'm sure Kelsey exhibits that same professionalism. Thank you for your commentary! 😀

I'm currently enrolled in ground school for aviation dispatcher training and the depth you go into on these plates is so helpful! Thank you sir.

"Intentions" is a curious word to use here. I don't think anyone ever "intends" to have 2 a/c collide. That said, something DID go wrong here. I think it will be interesting to see what the FAA says about it.

Now THAT was great Kelsey! I thoroughly enjoyed the whole video; the animation, the structure, your explanation and evaluation were excellent. More of this! 👌

I've been following you for quite a while and your content keeps getting better. Thank you.

As a controller, I appreciate you going to bat for controllers often. With a CAT III going on, there was no business having the SWA plane put onto the runway. This controller has no business being part of our workforce.

It's awesome how all parties just remained calm and professional throughout the whole situation! Awesome video as always Kelsey!

An understandable bit of voice fluttering on the "we appreciate your professionalism" call. I really appreciate the nuggets Kelsey gives on the importance of self awareness beyond the gritty mechanics of situational awareness.

What a excellent analysis of that scary situation. Thank you for your input.

Well Kelsey, this Memere (Grandmother) is simply happy for professionalism exhibited in any aspect of flying. I LOVE your channel because I’m listening and learning so much. I am a person who would have LOVED to travel the world round in my younger days but that is not possible today. Thank you for taking me places I’ve never seen, for YOUR professionalism, your efforts re your channel sharing it all with your viewers!! 🤗😉😘!!

I have so many thoughts on this, but a heavy jet on a 3 mile final in the weather should have the runway sealed up as his only.. My second thought is, a 737 does not resemble a top fuel dragster that can get rolling at break neck speed. Especially in the low visibility weather... I don’t really know the legal aspect of how the instrumentation works on a CATIII landing, but I would assume that the landing environment cannot be contaminated with anything with another jet on a 3 mile final.. I would also like to know, who teaches the rules to ATC on how close a plane can be on a CATIII landing and have another one taking off?? Those are just a few thoughts and questions I have on this situation that I would call an incredibly close call..

As my mother used to say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". Listening to this breakdown and knowing how close of a call this was I can't help but recall LAX on 2/1/1991 where it ended in tragedy. This was very close to being the same thing. If that 767 had made contact with the 737, it would likely have resulted in no survivors.

I experienced a similar situation on a flight that I took out of SFO. Tower cleared our flight for takeoff with arriving traffic close behind, however the pilots took a while to start rolling and ultimately the LC canceled our takeoff clearance and sent the arrival traffic around. A key difference here was that it happened on a clear day. Had the visibility been as low as it was during the incident in Austin, it could’ve been a much more dangerous situation.

I watched other commentaries about this incident and yours was excellent, Kelsey! Glad that things turned out as well as they did, thanks to professionalism as ATC termed it. Clearly the FedEx flight crew was thinking ahead, anticipating, and ready to act.

Thanks for explaining this Kelsey. Hopefully everyone learned something and procedures will be put in place to avoid this from happening again ✈️

What a great explanation of a complex situation. Well done Kelsey! Thank you for going through what the reports will likely find, a long while from now. Your graphics are first class and they really contribute to making this easy to understand. Lessons learned. Great episode!

I’m so glad you did this one for us Kelsey! I needed some explanation for my hometown airport! Thank you!

Great content as always. One of my favorite KZfaqrs. Thanks Kelsey.

The fundamental problem is that the controller was operating spacing as if it was VMC and he shouldn't have been doing that. The southwest plane being on the runway was an obstruction to the ILS transmitter, which is a problem even if FedEx was 7 miles out. So it was definitely a controller mistake. Agree there was no bad intention, it was a mistake.

This is such a great example of amazing professionalism and keeping calm when needed! Also, Kelsey if my teachers at school had explained things as clearly and interestingly as you do I would have done way better than I did!

very very informative video and as a former flight training specialist for an international airline I can relate to all considerations that go into making "on-the-spot" decisions way in advance of when they might actually be necessary

I just flew into Dallas to a layover yesterday, and it was that low-hanging fog that you was saying for Austin too. The 2nd flight out of Dallas to Alabama was one of those low visible takeoffs, and was quite delayed due to it. I actually appreciate knowing the true reason behind it now that I've watched this!

Hey Kelsey, I'm new to the aviation community, your videos are amazing! Thank you!

Love the content as always Kelsey! Really looking forward to more of your pilot VLOGs as well. The miss between the two has made me love this channel more than I thought possible!

Excellent content Kelsey and always appreciate your efforts to share these. 👍🏻

Great recap of the incident. The final report will be interesting. BTW…not Al Cat III approaches are to auto land. In fact, SWA never auto lands, does Cat III approaches often (when required by weather), and they are ALL hand flown (no autopilot) during the final approach segment.

Love this channel, your passion for aviation and your analyses. I will say though that I disagree with some of the details of your opinions here. I believe that this incident is completely on the controller. He gave this runway to conflicting traffic. A number of different things can delay a plane on the runway. If a controller needs an expedited departure he needs to say so on the TO clearance. The controller set up this conflict. FedEx and Southwest were both simply doing what they were cleared to do. Thanks for all your videos. Getting a window into flying with the big boys is very appreciated!

One plane coming in while another is going might work with good visibility. With low vis it seems just a matter of time before things like this happen.

This is the best show for lifting the veil on the safety operations and approach plates. Great education. Amazing professionalism and these videos always help me understand what I’m hearing and to not be nervous in the air. Thank you.

Excellent breakdown. The visuals really helped me understand the situation. Thank you!

Thanks very much for your videos mate, they're a very interesting source of information from someone who knows what they're talking about. Like Brian Cox, you have a great knack for explaining complicated things to amateurs in a very accessible way. Please keep up the good work!

Happens to the best of us!

Thanks for the information on this incident. I can see, now, how this could happen. You really gave me a lot of clarification. I'm only a Sim Pilot, but I can see how this created a confusing situation.

Thanks for your professionalism, Kelsey

I love how your putting more production quality into the videos.. They've always been great but you can really tell by the clean frames and text bubbles.. Looking Great!

Another well researched and informative video Kelsey. Brings a smile to my face to hear your wisdom and explanations. Glad you continue to "keep the blue side up", sir!

Kelsey, I had a boss a long while ago that used to say, did you learn from that mistake? He would take the time to go over where things went wrong and how to avoid doing that again. This is a great example of breaking it down step by step and pointing out where the mistake was made. In this case anyone that has been around airports would have assumed that Southwest would have done their usual turn onto the active, and burned out of there. Great channel and fantastic content.

Wow the animations are awesome. By far the best aviation channel on KZfaq, please give us more!

This is a great video. So easy to see how the confusion could occur! Low visibility can create problems so quickly at busy airports. Even as a GA pilot, great learning and appreciation to stay calm and know all the variables when holding short for traffic on final.

Great explanation! Thanks for all your hard work.

I’m so glad you covered this because I saw the raw video and was shocked.

Saw this incident described in the news but did not understand until this video. Thank you!

omg, that had me on the edge of my seat even though I knew there was no crash. thank you for telling this story and being fair to all parties involved, cheers!

This was a great breakdown, Kelsey! Your animation skills are greatly appreciated. 🙂

Us Sim Pot lounge pilots will never appreciate the real world of flying. Kelsey thank you for your time putting this almost CIS clip together. I thank the Lord this was a 100% +ve outcome due in part to the vast experience in the profession. Love your work champ.

Kelsey: another awesome show! Please don’t quit.! You’re the best aviator on this media.

That was a very important point about how SWA does things. Completely agree based on my time on their jumpseat. But also how ATC will give them clearances that they wouldn’t normally give to other airlines just because they are more “hot dogish”. I’ve had ATC at Las Vegas and Baltimore have SWA cut in front of me for a short final. I think SWA were the last ones to get FOQA in the cockpit. So no need to worry about stabilized approaches. Best of luck. Hope you don’t get blackballed for their jumpseat

Thanks Kelsey - appreciate the breakdown of this one. I’ve watched a few videos on this incident and you were the first to make it clear to me that the “abort” call could have been misinterpreted by the tower. I didn’t understand the tower’s next call before since I was assuming tower knew it was FedEx, and not SWA, that made that statement. Glad it ended up okay - could have been a bad one!

The bigger problem with the controller’s mistake is that fedex was doing an auto land. ATC has to keep the ILS critical area clear anytime an aircraft is doing an auto land since the autopilot is doing the landing. When he cleared SWA for takeofff, they would enter the critical area during a critical phase for the fedex plane. Point is, controller screwed up and was treating it like a normal ILS. Rules are different for CATIII.

A kind fair assessment. 👍 FedX missed approach called for climb to 1000 then climbing left turn to 3000 hdg 040. So essentially they flew the missed approach procedure. As they began to lose horizontal separation, vertical separation was improving. It would be interesting to see some accurate position and altitude read outs on this event. Fantastic that this event had a good outcome. Win, win, everybody learns.