On Wednesday, a flight crew of Mesa Airlines was forced to abruptly halt a landing at California’s Hollywood Burbank Airport due to an air traffic controller’s mistake. The incident, according to NBC News, is the latest in a string of apparent mix-ups at U.S. airports, including several near misses.
The FAA reported that the crew of Mesa Airlines Flight 5826 was preparing to land at the Burbank airport when an air traffic controller cleared a SkyWest Airlines Embraer E175 to take off from the same runway. The Mesa pilot aborted the landing and initiated a climb, while the SkyWest aircraft departed. An automated alert sounded on the Mesa flight deck.
The controller then instructed the Mesa crew to turn to a course that took it away from the other aircraft. The FAA has said it is investigating the incident, which comes as the agency has launched probes into a number of recent near misses.