SAN DIEGO — The FAA will be taking a closer look at runway incursions at airports in the United States, including San Diego International Airport, according to a new Reuters report.
Last week, two Southwest Airlines jets were cleared to enter the San Diego runway at the same time. A takeoff was aborted, and no collision occurred.
Reuters reports the FAA will audit runway near misses at 45 of the nation’s busiest airports. San Diego’s airport ranks 25th busiest in the United States.
Since August 2023, a FAA database lists eight runway incursions at San Diego International Airport, not including the incident that occurred October 11.
Friday's near miss happened around 8:40 a.m., when a Southwest Airlines flight was cleared to cross the runway at the same time another Southwest jet was cleared to take off.
Veteran pilot and flight instructor Robert Katz said incursions are not unusual on the San Diego tarmac. “I wouldn't take my airplane into Lindbergh Field. In fact, the runway at Brown Field is longer than the one here at Lindbergh,” he said.
Katz called San Diego International Airport “a disaster waiting to happen,” partly because a parking garage in the approach to Lindbergh Field shortens its usable runway length. “They can't touch down at the beginning of runway 27. They have to touch down after the displaced threshold, and that shortens the runway by almost 2000 feet,” Katz said.
A near miss happened in San Diego on August 11, 2023, where a Cessna Citation that was cleared for landing flew about 100 feet over the top of a Southwest passenger jet waiting to take off.
Another incursion on February 6, 2024, was animated in a YouTube video posted by VAS Aviation.
The pilot of Japan Airlines flight 65 mistakenly taxiid onto the main San Diego runway after Delta Flight 2287 was cleared to land. The Delta jet’s landing was aborted and no one was injured.
Results of the FAA airport audit are expected in early 2025, Reuters reported.
CBS 8 reached out to San Diego International Airport for comment on the general safety of the airport. A spokesperson did not respond to our request for comment.