American Airlines jet nearly collides with Cessna in mid-air close call: FAA

An American Airlines plane with 122 passengers on board came dangerously close to a Cessna that flew into its flight path as it was landing at a Texas airport this week.

FAA officials said the Cessna "unexpectedly entered the flight path" of the American Airlines plane, which was coming from Chicago to Austin around 10:45 Wednesday morning.  

Ian Petchenik, communications director at flightradar24.com, said the commercial flight was about to land at the Austin airport, when one of the systems onboard the American Airlines jet, the Traffic Collision Avoidance System, alerted the pilots to the possibility of a mid-air crash and directed them to take immediate action.

FILE - American Airlines jet (Photo by Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

That’s when the plane climbed and turned right to avoid the Cessna, which ended up flying about 400 feet below the American Airlines Boeing jet. They were separated by about 800 feet horizontally.

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Petchenik said planes typically fly pretty close to each other in landing and takeoff zones, but when they do they’re usually under direction from FAA air traffic controllers. The Cessna wasn’t required to be under FAA navigation at the time of the near-collision, but the private plane also did not communicate with the airport’s traffic controllers.

"That presented a few problems that led to this incident," Petchenik said in an interview with LiveNow from FOX.

The FAA is investigating the close call, though Petchenik doubts anyone will face penalties or reprimands because there were no injuries. But the FAA investigation will help to ensure it doesn’t happen again, he said.

RELATED: FAA investigates after Alaska Airlines flight steers into SkyWest plane's path

In October 2023,  an incoming Alaska Airlines flight steered into the path of a SkyWest passenger jet that was taking off from Portland International Airport in Oregon. Using publicly available flight data, The Oregonian estimated that the planes came within about 1,800 feet horizontally and 250 feet vertically of each other.

"These aren’t very common," Petchenik explained. "They’re not becoming more frequent, we’re just hearing about them more often … I think people are more attuned to things that are happening. Not to say they’re not serious."