NTSB: Distracted San Diego tower controllers let private jet come within 100 ft of Southwest airliner

The NTSB says a private jet came within 100 feet of colliding with a Southwest Airlines airliner on a San Diego runway two years ago after tower controllers were distracted. Investigators found controllers' prioritization of unrelated tasks and poor judgment diverted attention from monitoring arriving and departing aircraft.

Discovered 2025-09-30T12:05:12.752348-07:00 | 2025-09-30T12:05:12.752348-07:00

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The incident involved a 100‑foot proximity on an active runway and an NTSB finding of controller distraction and poor judgment, signaling a clear operational safety failure that can lead to catastrophic outcomes.
It adds to a pattern of ATC performance lapses, including cases where a controller was reportedly found unresponsive during operations (see controller was reportedly found asleep: https://hype.aero/?story=3390c6b9-6351-46b2-86c9-2dff511f84fd).
The findings reinforce concerns about controller workload and task prioritization that previously triggered multiple TCAS alerts in a high‑workload sector (see ATC workload triggered two TCAS alerts: https://hype.aero/?story=42a6f9a6-e4bb-4487-8a11-b631ce380c20) and will likely accelerate deployment of cockpit and ground-based runway‑incursion mitigations (see cockpit 'Traffic on Runway' alerts gaining momentum: https://hype.aero/?story=250520d5-01b1-4546-a30c-e92d26714691).

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