Scary Mishap for Omaha Flight to Chicago

What the heck happened with this incident from Omaha to Chicago yesterday, and is this kind of thing happening more often than usual?  We discuss with aviation expert Jay Ratliff.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott Vordy's talk about what took up the bulk of
Emery's show yesterday. Gary and I talked about it on
kfab's Morning News this morning. It's the Southwest Airlines flight
twenty fifty four flew out of Omaha yesterday and was
supposed to land at midway in Chicago, and it eventually did.

(00:22):
But boy, as if you've seen the video, you know
how frightening this looks. As the Southwest flight is coming
in for a landing, a smaller flight, one of these
little private jets, is going across the runway and they

(00:45):
came within two hundred and fifty feet of each other,
which when that Southwest flight, I know it's coming in
for a landing, but it's still coming in really fast.
That's really close, and the pilot immediately did a what's
called a go around maneuver was able to lift back
into the air quickly and calmly. It was an amazing
scene that could have been so much worse. We welcome

(01:07):
on here for some analyzation of what happened. A frequent
contributor to News Radio eleven ten KFAB aviation expert Jay
Ratliff is here, and Jay welcome back to eleven ten kfab.
What are your thoughts on what happened here yesterday this
flight out of Omaha.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, you know, we have talked for some time about
the runway incursions, and that's what we call it. When
any sort of an aircraft or a piece of ground
equipment like a maintenance vehicle or something is crossing an
active runway and you've got an aircraft coming in for
landing and they will divert, they will go around as
they air on the side of caution because of the

(01:45):
fact that somebody is where they are not supposed to be. Now,
in this case, you had the two parties, the Leer
jet as well as the arrival arriving Southwest flight that
were much closer than normal. So what ended up happening
is you've got this incredibly an incredible video of this
Southwest jet that's coming into land and just before the

(02:08):
tires the main landing gear is about to set down
and then they rotate it forward to lower the forward
landing gear. You've got this lear jet that just keeps
on tooling across this active runway and immediately the Southwest
Airlines crew recognizes it. Immediately they pull back. They increase
the power and they end up notifying the tower they're

(02:30):
going to do a go around. You're not asking for
permission at that point, you're telling the tower what you're doing.
And of course then all the players involved were instructed accordingly.
And when you listen to the air traffic control audio
on this from start to finish, one of the things
that strikes me is that the lear Jet crew is
having issues from the very beginning. When they left the

(02:52):
FBO or the fixed base operator and they were initiating
their taxi, many of the instructions had to repeat be
repeated one, two, three times. A lot of times. They
were asking questions about exactly where they were at and
where they were going, So there was some confusion from
the onset as far as exactly where they were supposed
to be. And then as course, as the aircraft continues

(03:15):
to taxi, the leer jet it was instructed and they
confirmed the instructions to hold short of that active runway.
They did not. They went ahead and crossed it, and
the Southwest crew executed that go around. And the interesting
part is when you listen to this, the cadence or

(03:36):
the volume, the emotion of the pilots on Southwest. No
big deal, We're going around. We'll come back on the
next time. I mean, it is a very It sounds
like a normal type of thing, not the screaming whatever
you might happen to hear. Now, two things later we
heard was the lear jet was told to stop and

(03:58):
they were going to be contacted with an FAA report
number because they were in trouble. And the other thing
was the Southwest captain called back asking quite pointedly, how
did that happen? Yeah, and of course, yeah, that's a
great question. But it all resulted with a crew of
that Leer jet that simply wasn't stopping where they were
supposed to.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah. Local TV station k E TV here in Omaha
talked with a couple of women, Emily and Kaylee, were
on the flight and they said the same thing. They said,
the pilot was so calm. We knew that it was
unusual to come in for a landing and then suddenly
take off again here, but the pilot was so calm
we didn't really think anything was of an emergency situation.

(04:39):
I mean, the Southwest pilot should be lauded for what
happened here, and that should be before you start trying
to cast any blame, but human beings being you know
who we are. Someone's got to pay for this. Now,
I'm not asking you Jay to determine who was wrong.
We don't know this. There will be an investigation based
on what you've seen here. Who do you think this

(05:00):
might spend the longest time with FAA investigators per this
investigation determine what the heck happened? Was that the pilot
of the private jet. Was it air traffic control? What's
going on?

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Air traffic Control did their job. They were repeatedly telling
this leared jet crew where they were to stop. That
crew did not stop where they were supposed to, and
they taxied across what was at the time an active runway.
Now it's one thing to miss where you're supposed to stop.
It's another thing to miss looking out the right window

(05:32):
and noticing see that great big seven thirty seven that's
seconds away from landing. Probably not a good idea to
go taxing across this runway. I mean, if in doubt
you stop, you asked air traffic control for clarification, and
believe me, they're incredible to work with. Air Traffic controllers
want to make sure you're in the right spot. If

(05:53):
you have to have things repeated, it's okay, you don't argue,
use them as a resource. I think it's clear here
it was the leered get that was not where it
was supposed to be. And in fact, even after the
Southwest Jet did the go around, the lear Jet crew
was reminded, Hey, you were supposed to stop short. You
did not, So that was the problem. And most of

(06:13):
these runway incursions involve a breakdown in communication or human error.
And you're exactly right, and we've had these. I've got
a sister who's a great, big anti Donald Trump person,
and she says, Jay, I can't believe we're having all
of these. And it's obviously a result of all these
situations where we've been firing all these FAA people. And
I had to remind my highly emotional sister that these

(06:37):
positions that have been eliminated at the FA, none of
the rare traffic controllers, their probation area, their support people.
But we've been talking for the last year and a
half about the increase of these runway incursions at airports
around the country. And when you recognize, as I do,
having done this for thirty three years, and being in
the industry for two decades. Air traffic controllers have some

(06:57):
of the worst technology at their disposal. I have a
shortage of air traffic controllers. They're using technology that is
based on World War II era technology. It's decades old,
and you're asking them to do the job of not one,
not two, but maybe three people. Those men and women
who do a great job need to be given the
very latest in technology. And if Donald Trump, as our president,

(07:19):
is pledging to upgrade what they have at their disposal,
I am so in favor of it because we've had
so many presidents promise it, very few, if any, start
to even begin to deliver on it. And believe me,
if we can get Elon Musk, the SpaceX team, whoever
involved in getting that technology upgraded, I will be thrilled
because it will make aviation safer as a result.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, your sister is going to be on next here.
She's asking for equal time, but.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well, she lives. She lives in the area, so I
don't doubt it. But look, I love my sister, so yeah,
av I didn't give her a hard time for four
years under Biden, then I.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Could have aviation expert Jay Rant lived with us here
for a few more minutes on news radio eleven ten KFAB.
I appreciate you pointing that out. We talked the other
day about how there was a national media member talking
with someone I believe from Delta saying, are you concerned
about everyone getting fired at FAA said they've got like
fifty thousand employees. There have been three hundred people who

(08:13):
are not essential personnel who've been fired. No, we're not
worried about it. In other words, stop lying to the
American people about this. So I appreciate you bringing that up. Also,
the technology, Jay, I only know what I know, which
is not nearly as much as I would like people
to believe that it is. I spent a lot of
my time talking into microphones with headphones on, and whether

(08:37):
it's you on the phone, or a guest in the
studio or people we hook up through various comrades and
ISDN links, including some of these two way talkbacks where
people can talk in my ear while I'm still talking
on the radio. I can get a message in my
ear saying you need to go to break or what
you just said was wrong, or you're an idiot and
I quit. I mean any number of things could be
said in my air while I'm talking, including you just

(08:59):
saying oh, yeah, I've been there. Sure I heard all
of that while I was talking. At no point did
I have to turn my mic on to cut your
mic so I can't hear what you're saying. But that's
the technology they're working with, like the old walkie talkies
we used to play with when we were kids.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, to say it these are we upgraded is an
insult to the word upgrade. I mean it is so
far it is. When Elon Musk and his team walked
in and saw the technology these men and women are using,
I would have paid real money to have just been
there just to look at the look on their faces

(09:36):
when they recognized you're doing all of this with that, yes,
incredibly old technology, you know. In fact, we were coming
up on the eleven year anniversary of Malaysia Airlines Flight
three seventy. That's the aircraft that flew off into the horizon.
We have no idea where it's at eleven years after
when that first happened. A lot of people said time

(09:58):
out here, how can we not though where a two
hundred million dollar aircraft is. An answer is because we
use World War Two era ground based radar to track
airplanes line of sight. And because we have a curved globe,
there's many areas of the planet that certain aircraft will
fly that we are flying undetected. We can we can

(10:21):
track a drug dealer on the court on the corner
of Fifth and Maine because we're using a satellite to
zap in on the location of a cell phone. But
when it comes to air traffic, we're going to use
ground based radar That is so adnine, so ridiculous, so
out of date, it just boggles your mind. But in
the vast part of the world, that's exactly what we're

(10:42):
using to track aviation. So any advancement that we can
have in technology, that's going to allow us to use
the technology that we're blessed to have now, I mean,
it needs to be employed. But the problem is that
the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, tends to get whatever
money falls off the table. It's never been a priority,
it's never been given the just amount of attention that

(11:06):
it needs. Now sometimes they're given too much money and
it's wasted. Don't get me wrong there it happens. But
the idea is that We're asking these air traffic controllers
to do not a good job, but a great job.
For every one of their decisions, life and death hangs
in the balance. You know, you and I screw up.
People laugh at us. Happens all the time air traffic
controllers make a mistake and lives are placed at risk.

(11:26):
We've got to give these men and women everything they need,
plus me, because I trade stocks all the time. I
look at the nation's air traffic network is an integral
part of our nation's economy, and it is incredibly important
that we keep that moving. That's one of the reasons
that terrorists always targeting aviation, because not only does it
get a lot of attention, it can adversely impact our

(11:49):
nation's economy. It deserves a priority in our approach. Sadly,
it's never looked at that way. And because these men
and women for so long have done such a great job,
the idea of spending hundreds of millions or a billion
dollars to upgrade technology never really seems to surface.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Now, when I'm a pilot and I look over my
shoulder and I see a plane coming at me, and
I'm pushing the button to turn my mic on to
talk to air traffic control to ask why is this
plane coming at me? They noticed the same thing. They
turn their mic on to talk to me and say, Hey,
there's a plane coming at you, And because we both
have our mics on, we can't hear each other, and

(12:27):
then we don't know whether the other one heard what
we said. That is outdated technology. I'm glad that hopefully
Trump must someone is paying attention to this last question
for you, Jay, certainly with what happened jeez. What I
think exactly a month ago was the Washington d C
flight between the Army helicopter and the American Airlines flight,

(12:50):
and then shortly thereafter the medical transport jet in Philadelphia,
and then a commuter plane in Alaska, and then the
people flipped on that delta flight up in Toronto about
a week and a week and a half ago. People
have the impression that this is happening more often. Is
it happening more often? Or with situations like what happened

(13:10):
in Chicago we're talking about, and there was another one
yesterday at Reagan and DC that was similar. Are these
things just being reported higher in the headlines and earlier
in the newscast because of some of the high profile ones.
Are they happening more often or is it about the same.
We're just hearing about it more.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
You're spot on as usual, my friend, because what happens
is if you have a general aviation crash in Arizona
where two planes collide, two people die, it makes a
front headline news because the fact that we are now
more aviation aware than we've ever been. Commercial aviation, sadly,
we I mean, in general aviation will lose sadly five

(13:49):
six hundred lives a year, and it's rarely reported, never
seems to make the front news because it's general aviation
private aircraft. We would sit nearly sixteen years from two
thousand and nine February the Colgan Air crash in Buffalo
to that situation a month ago in DC where we
had nearly sixteen years of no major flight accidents, and

(14:13):
when you're talking about nine million plus flights a year
that operate here in the United States, and we went
year after year after year after year in all of
those years without having a situation enjoying the safest air
of commercial jet travel. That's what got to be the norm.
So when you have not one, not two, but now
two fatal accidents and then situation in Toronto. People are like,

(14:34):
oh my gosh, Jake, I mean everything's falling apart, planes
are falling out of the sky. No, it's not. It
still remains the safest way to travel. I'm not trying
to minimize anybody's anxiety, because I get it. But the
problem is right now, so much of it's being reported.
That's going to continue to be the case because look,
remember a year ago plus when the last Airlines Boeing
flight had the door plug blowout. At that moment, everybody

(14:58):
wanted to know with every single emergency landing was it Boeing?
Was it? Boeing? Was it? Because Boeing was on the
forefront of everybody's mind. It's the same sort of situation here.
And that's why I can say, as I look at
things from thirty five thousand feet, we are having a
few more incidents, but nothing that's alarming to me whatsoever.

(15:18):
I will take any of my eight grandchildren, my wife,
my mom out to the airport today and jump on
a flight with complete confidence. And if you want to
understand that the competency level of these men and women
on commercial flights, listen to the air traffic control audio.
When this crew recognizes we're about to run into this
lear jet, we need to go around. That's what we're

(15:38):
going to do. It was a non issue and they
executed it flawlessly.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Jay Ratliffe, aviation analyst here for us on news radio
eleven ten KFAB, Thank you so much for your perspective
and all the time today.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Always my pleasure. Scott By Mornings nine to eleven on
news radio eleven ten KFAB