This
sounds like the original Top Gun movie when Maverick buzzes the control tower.
But
it’s no movie. And no joke, either.
The
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is
investigating a Southwest Airlines flight that came a little too close to
the control tower at LaGuardia Airport in New York.
Apparently,
the pilot of the plane veered off course while trying to land and came as close
as 67 feet to the control tower. The incident happened last month on March 23. This was on the second attempt to land in bad weather and an air
traffic controller can be heard on audio tapes telling the pilot to go around.
"Go
around! Go around! Fly runway heading, climb and maintain 2,000. Climb and
maintain 2,000. 2,000," the air traffic controller said, according to a
feed from liveatc.net.
Preliminary
flight tracking data from Flightradar24 put the airliner at an altitude of 300
feet when it began to climb.
The control
tower at LaGuardia is 233 feet tall. Tracking data shows that the pilot was not
aligned with the runway. It appears the plane flew over the parking garage
immediately adjacent to the air traffic control tower.
Southwest
acknowledged the incident and said there were 153 passengers and crew on board.
The flight emanated from Nashville.
The
carrier said it is "reviewing the event as part of our safety
systems." The flight had to briefly divert to Baltimore-Washington
International Airport, where it landed safely. The plane eventually made its
way to New York.
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