Two commercial planes almost collided at Chicago Midway International Airport Tuesday night, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed.
Southwest flight 3828 was cleared for takeoff and started on the runway, but simultaneously Delta Air Lines 1328 also began on an intersecting runway without proper clearance according to a statement released by the FAA.
It caused a potentially harrowing situation as two planes should never be rolling for takeoff on intersecting runways.
The on-duty air traffic controller noticed the two planes headed toward the intersection, immediately warning the Delta flight. The controller can be heard yelling, “stop, stop, stop!” in the audio recording of the incident, which occurred at about 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday.
Both flights stopped 2,000 feet from the runway intersection, later the Southwest flight went on to Tulsa with no additional problems.
“We appreciate the professionalism of our pilots and the FAA Traffic Controller,” Southwest said in a statement.
The FAA is investigating the situation, which Delta said they fully cooperating with.