The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on Tuesday on the close call at Chicago Midway International Airport in February, when a Flexjet plane crossed the same runway where a Southwest Airlines flight was coming into land.
The Southwest crew performed a go-around, passing about 250 feet over the Flexjet plane, according to FlightRadar24. No one was injured in the incident.
This close call is one in a string of aviation incidents in recent months, including the crash between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67 people in January.
According to the report on the Chicago close call, the crew members of the Flexjet plane seemed to be confused about the location of the runway and sun glare impeded their vision.
The crew told investigators that “the sun was impeding visibility from the right side of the aircraft.”
The Flexjet crew members also said they hadn’t seen hold short lines or pavement markings for the runway 31L, which they crossed before they entered 31C, where the Southwest flight was set to land. They told investigators that the runway 13R/31L “appeared to have a very similar width to taxiways and that they had not recognized it as a runway.”