Mesa Airlines plane forced to stop landing to avoid collision with departing plane in California

BURBANK, Calif. — A Mesa Airlines plane was forced to stop landing to avoid a collision with another plane that was departing the Hollywood Burbank Airport.

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The National Transportation Safety Board on Twitter on Friday said that it was investigating an incident that occurred at the California airport on Wednesday. A Skywest Embraer 175 was departing as a Mesa Airlines CRJ9 was preparing to land, the agency said.

Preliminary information from the Federal Aviation Administration found that the incident was a near miss, according to The Washington Post. An air traffic controller had cleared the SkyWest airplane just before 7 p.m. Wednesday from Runway 33. The Mesa Airlines plane was about 1.3 miles away from the runway and was preparing to land.

The pilot of the Mesa Airlines plane stopped landing and ascended as the Skywest airplane continued its departure. The air traffic controller had the Mesa Airlines crew fly on a different course, according to the Post. No injuries were reported.

In recent months, there have been multiple incidents of close calls, including on Feb. 4 at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, where air traffic controllers cleared a FedEx cargo plane to plane on the same runway where a Southwest Airlines jet was taking off. Both planes came within about 100 feet of one another, the Post reported.

Another incident occurred on Jan. 13 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where an American Airlines jet and a Delta Air Lines plane were about 1,400 feet apartment, according to the newspaper.

FAA’s acting administrator Billy Nolen has called for “an industry safety summit” that is expected to happen in March, according to NBC News.

Hollywood Burbank Airport was previously known as the Bob Hope Burbank Airport, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times in 2016. The reason was to “increase recognition with passengers outside of Southern California.” Hollywood Burbank Airport is the airport’s branding name but its legal name is Bob Hope Airport.

The investigation is ongoing. No further information has been released.