The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into the near collision of a jetliner and a small private plane at the intersection of two active runways at Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport (BUR) in Southern California.
At about 10:58 a.m. PDT on April 19, Southwest Airlines flight 649, a Boeing 737-700 inbound from Oakland, carrying 119 passengers and a crew of five, was landing on runway 8 while a Cessna 172, in the departure phase of a touch and go on runway 15, passed over the 737.
According to the FAA, the airplanes came within 200 feet vertically and 10 feet laterally of each other at the runway intersection. No one was injured in the incident, which occurred under a clear sky with visibility of 10 miles.
Improving runway safety has been on the NTSB’s Most Wanted List of Safety Improvements since 1990.
