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Two Southwest Airlines jets have near midair collision at Nashville Airport

Two Southwest Airlines planes had to take evasive action to avoid colliding Saturday in Nashville after an air traffic controller directed one pilot to turn into the path of the other plane.

Both of the Southwest pilots involved told the air traffic controller that they received alarms from their collision avoidance systems that directed them to take action with one plane climbing while the other descended to avoid the potential midair collision.

Location data from the two planes show their flight paths converging after one pilot decided to abort landing and circle around to try again. The controller directed that plane to turn into the path of the other Southwest plane that had just taken off. By the time the controller recognized the threat and tried to direct the plane that had just taken off to stay below 2000 feet, the pilot reported that he was already above that level.

That location data appears to show these planes getting as close as 500 feet apart with one of them flying just over the top of the other plane, so that would fit the official definition of a near midair collision. But it may not be clear exactly how close they planes got until after the incident is reviewed.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating. The agency said the pilot of Southwest flight 507 “received instructions from air traffic control that put the flight in the path of another airplane that was departing from a parallel runway. Both flight crews responded to onboard alerts.”

Southwest Airlines said gusty winds at the Nashville International Airport prompted the first pilot to perform a go around. He said both pilots followed the directions from the air traffic controller and their onboard collision avoidance systems to avoid running into each other.

Last year, an American Airlines jet collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C., killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft. That crash on Jan. 29, 2025, put the spotlight on midair collisions, which are rare in commercial flights where the planes are equipped with systems to alert pilots about a potential collision.

Most of the close calls that happen every year involve small planes that don’t have those systems, but the Federal Aviation Administration couldn’t immediately provide a number for how many happen annually. There are typically several collisions involving small planes every year like the one that happened in February 2025 in Arizona that killed two people.


(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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