Close Call: Southwest Airlines Plane Avoids Collision with Control Tower at La Guardia Airport

Southwest Airlines flight SWA147 from Nashville to New York (La Guardia Airport)

During an incident last Saturday, a Southwest Airlines aircraft escaped a collision with the control tower as it tried to land at La Guardia Airport in New York.

Flight SWA147, which departed from Nashville, Tennessee, was forced to abort its initial landing attempt due to exceeding recommended speed and altitude, compounded by strong wind gusts. During the subsequent landing approach, the Boeing 737-8H4, identified as N8554X, abruptly veered to the right, bringing it perilously close to the control tower at just 325 feet, or approximately 100 meters altitude, according to our data.

The YouTube channel VASAviation captured recordings of the tense communications between the aircraft and the La Guardia control tower. In the video, which subtitles, a controller urgently instructs the pilot to "go around" and climb to 2000 feet.

At one point in the video, a Southwest pilot is heard querying the controller about the reason for the go-around, to which the controller responds that the aircraft was not aligned with the runway and was not going to land safely.

While Southwest Airlines has not yet issued an official statement regarding the incident, an investigation will likely be launched to determine the cause of the misalignment and subsequent near-miss.

Written with Luiz Fara Monteiro from Record TV's Portal R7.