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Home » News » Southwest Airlines Flight Nearly Collides With Helicopter
NewsSouthwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Flight Nearly Collides With Helicopter

Matthew Klint Posted onMarch 22, 2023November 13, 2023 12 Comments

the engine of a plane

The string of near-misses in US airspace continues, this time involving a Southwest Airlines 737 and a fire department helicopter at Hollywood-Burbank Airport in Southern California.

Southwest Airlines Flight Aborts Landing To Avoid Hitting Helicopter In Southern California

Lately, it seems like I could publish a story a day on near-misses across the USA. While the apparent uptick in incidents may be more attributed to media frenzy than a sinister change to US aviation, the Federal Aviation Administration recently assembled a special summit in Virginia to discuss airline safety. There, Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen noted:

“We expect every flight to operate as it should. And so we’ve had these events over the past few weeks. That gives us a moment to say, Let’s stop. Let’s reflect. Let’s ask ourselves the question: Are we missing anything?”

The latest incident caught my attention because it took place at my “home” airport, just 15 minutes from my home in LA. On Saturday, Mach 18, 2023, Southwest Airlines flight 353 was on approach for landing at BUR airport when Air Traffic Control noticed a Los Angeles Fire Department Bell 505 helicopter practicing takeoffs and landings…right where the Southwest flight was to land.

The Southwest flight, a Boeing 737-700 with registration N551WN, was ordered to abort landing and performed a go-around.

This is not the only recent incident at Burbank. On January 22, 2023, two aircraft were cleared to use the same runway at the same time (a Mesa Airlines CRJ900 operating for American Airlines and a SkyWest Embraer 175 operating for United Airlines). In that incident, an automatic alarm onboard the CRJ900 sounded, which may have prevented great tragedy.

Yesterday, a Southwest flight also narrowly missed (173 feet) an ambulance while taking off at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). The ambulance crossed an active runway without permission.

Should You Be Afraid To Fly?

Many people have asked me if it is still safe to fly in the US. Yes, it is. It is very safe. These near-miss stories are not comforting and in some cases harrowing, but I am hopeful the media scrutiny on this string of recent events will lead to a more deliberate and careful approach to both flying and air traffic control.

CONCLUSION

If not for the quick reaction of an air traffic controller, a Southwest Airlines 737-700 may have landed on the same runway as a helicopter practicing landings. We’ve seen a lot of near-miss incidents lately. Hopefully these events will cause greater scrutiny that will lead to an even higher degree of precaution and thereby make the skies even safer.


image: Hollywood-Burbank Airport

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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12 Comments

  1. Maryland Reply
    March 22, 2023 at 10:21 am

    I think the BWI class b incursion(200′) actually occurred in January but was only recently announced. Weird.

  2. Stuart Reply
    March 22, 2023 at 11:42 am

    My instincts tell me this is nothing more than the usual and the system working as always. The origination of the hype may be from the really scary one, the AA and DL near miss at JFK compounding with the news media going all in at every turn. Tucker did not help as well with his crazy talk of blaming Pete and using a routine go around at IAH as an example.

    With that said, I don’t know. Would be interesting to see if these “incidents” are no different than in 2019 or if there has been an increase. My gut tells me this is no different than any recent pre-covid year.

    • Maryland Reply
      March 22, 2023 at 6:37 pm

      @ Stuart Have you heard any updates on when the JFK AA DL investigation will conclude? Just curious. The BWI incident report seems strange that nothing was said until a local community station broke the story 2 months after this incursion. And the DC area is generally a blabbing bunch considering stations have 5 hours of local news to fill. But maybe it didn’t fulfill the “if it bleeds it leads” fortunately.

      • Stuart Reply
        March 22, 2023 at 8:47 pm

        Have not heard anything at all. Odd now that you mention it. The last I read about it was when the pilots first refused to be interviewed on video back in January.

        • Maryland Reply
          March 22, 2023 at 9:18 pm

          Yes. And the next week they went through the video deposition. Then nothing, which I can understand, but heck it’s seems like quite a while ago. And I am suspicious (a bit) about the bwi thing. I acknowledge that possibly some other stories won the day the initial week of 1-12 but they always save some b roll for a slower day. And for the abc affiliate pick up this community station no one heard of is just weird.

  3. Lukas Reply
    March 22, 2023 at 5:38 pm

    Near miss = hit. I know most media uses that term but it should be near-hit. Makes perfect sense *shrug*

  4. Criminal Law Expert Reply
    March 22, 2023 at 5:50 pm

    This one hits a little close to home as I find myself working with law enforcement pilots and recently went up in the chopper to observe a patrol call. Given that we took off and landed from a very small municipal airport although in a heavily populated suburban area (small enough that no real commercial air traffic uses the airport regularly), I’m thankful the admittedly minimal risk of airspace incidents is lessened by the lack of commercial traffic. That’s a very tough spot for local law enforcement agencies in urban areas, though. A lot of them probably have no choice but to utilize or partially utilize busy commercial airports.

  5. James Reply
    March 22, 2023 at 10:07 pm

    As a former Purser for UAL (29 years), I commuted at times from SFO to BUR (where I lived in Laurel Cyn). Just on those commute flts., as a DHD psgr I would listen to Channel 9. On more than one occasion, we had ‘abort landing, go around’. I agree with Lukas, it should be called a near hit or collision. Just sayin’

  6. Richard Reply
    March 23, 2023 at 1:13 am

    Shouldn’t the air traffic controller told the helicopter to keep out of the way as the 737 made its approach?

    • Mr. Bill Reply
      March 23, 2023 at 8:20 am

      Agreed. In what world is this the helicopters fault? They were doing practice landings at a controlled airport under positive ATC control. Unless they were using the wrong runway it’s ATC’s job to monitor and control. Even then the tower should know how a helicopter is moving around. It’s not like it was miles away from the tower. They make ATC seem like the hero here when in fact they could be the problem in this instance.

  7. Annette Clarke Williams Reply
    March 23, 2023 at 4:37 pm

    It’s not safe in the air, and just as unsafe on the ground more so if you live in the flight path thanks to the FAA’S brilliant Nextgen crap. Have experienced too low flying noisy planes in our neighborhood. Loud booms caused by a Southwest plane. Jot planning on getting on any planes anytime soon.

  8. JH Reply
    March 29, 2023 at 1:41 am

    Typo… On Saturday, Mach 18, 2023,

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