Two Massive Planes Narrowly Missed a Collision Here in Minnesota

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Talk about a close call: Two massive jets narrowly missed colliding with each other on the runway at Minnesota's largest airport recently.

Flying these days in the U.S. is one of the safest ways to travel. But despite commercial aviation's exemplary safety record, there have been some close calls recently. Like the event that just happened at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) on Wednesday night, June 14th, 2023.

Here's what happened: An incoming plane from Dallas was cleared to land here in the North Star State but had to cancel its landing and go around because another plane was still on the same runway.  Yikes!

READ MORE: How Much Money Do Delta Pilots in MN Make Per Year?

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Delta Air Lines flight Delta Flight 1163, headed for Santa Ana, California, was getting ready to take off shortly before 6:30 p.m. on runway 30L. However, at the same time, American Airlines Flight 2406, which was coming in from Dallas, was approaching to land on that same runway!

Here's the official description from the FAA:

The American Boeing 737 was approaching to land around 6:28 p.m. local time on June 14 when the controller cleared the Delta Airbus A220 for an immediate takeoff on Runway 30L. After the controller told the American flight to go around, the aircraft passed above and to the left side of the Delta flight.

Now, even though the planes didn't come anywhere close enough to collide with each other, it was enough of a close call for the FAA to deem the event a 'near miss' and launch a full investigation.

This near miss comes even as the FAA recently touted new safety collision avoidance software that was installed at MSP earlier this spring. That equipment is known as ASDE-X Taxiway Arrival Prediction (ATAP). It uses radar and other sensors to automatically tell if a plane appears to be lining up to land on a taxiway rather than a runway, the FAA said.

Thankfully, air traffic controllers and the pilots involved took evasive action Wednesday night so no collision occurred. But it still must have made for a few tense moments on the flight deck and in the control tower!

If you've still got the itch to travel but don't want to fly, keep scrolling to check out 10 places that will allow you to escape the Land of 10,000 Lakes-- without leaving the state!

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