I’m not sure what to make of this incident, other than being grateful that the Southwest Airlines pilots seemed to know what they were doing…
In this post:
Van Nuys tower struggles to deal with difficult situation
VASAviation has the air traffic control audio and a visualization of a close call in Southern California, which happened on March 17, 2025. It involves two aircraft:
- N610GD, a Cessna Citation Encore, which was flying from Borger, Texas (BGD), to Van Nuys, California (VNY)
- Southwest flight WN2961, a Boeing 737-700, which was flying from Sacramento, California (SMF), to Burbank, California (BUR)
It’s worth understanding that the airports of Van Nuys and Burbank are just eight miles apart, so planes operating to and from those airport often use the same airspace, and can cross paths. On this particular day, the weather wasn’t great, with deteriorating visibility for the aircraft approaching Van Nuys.
Essentially what happened is that the Cessna Citation never got a visual of the runway it was supposed to land on, and ended up having to go around. The issue is that the Southwest 737 was descending at the same time, flying over Van Nuys Airport, very close to the path of the Cessna Citation. The aircraft ended up losing separation, triggering a TCAS alert (Traffic Collision Avoidance System).
I’d recommend giving the video below a watch, as it’s quite something. TCAS alerts aren’t that uncommon, but it’s the way the interaction happens that really makes this interesting, if you ask me.
What’s going on with this mess?!?
Kudos to the Southwest pilots, who were doing exactly what they needed to do, so you can’t fault anything about their performance. But when it comes to the Cessna Citation pilot and the air traffic controller, well, where do we start?
The Cessna Citation pilot just seemed woefully unprepared. Okay, he couldn’t see the runway, which happens, but then he asked for vectors, even though he was told twice that the runway was at his 12 o’clock, and he was maintaining the same heading.
The wildest part is that as he was asking for the vectors for the runway, he already seemed to start climbing altitude, suggesting that he was executing a missed approach, without actually communicating that to the controller. For that matter, he was not flying the published missed approach sequence from the airport, as clearly he didn’t read up on that.
Meanwhile I’m not sure what’s going on with the air traffic controller. No shade, but was he a trainee? He seemed to struggle to provide any sort of instructions when he was most needed, and just sort of froze. Compare that to the below controller from a recent incident I covered in Phoenix, who is an absolute champ.
Bottom line
A Southwest Boeing 737 and Cessna Citation had a close call in Southern California, as the private jet attempted to land in Van Nuys, while the 737 attempted to land in Burbank. Close calls happen, and that’s why TCAS so often saves the day.
However, the combination of the Cessna Citation pilot and the air traffic controller really leave something to be desired, as this was kind of painful to listen to.
What do you make of this close call?
SoCal airspace is overcrowded and while it’s not DCA or EWR, the number of small airports that directly conflict with major ones is insane. Many private pilots I know loathe crossing the LA basin because of the stress it causes. Weather is usually the least of our concerns, but add it in and there’s a lot of risk. All the major airports are well separated, but it’s the small strips that are concerning.
GA...
SoCal airspace is overcrowded and while it’s not DCA or EWR, the number of small airports that directly conflict with major ones is insane. Many private pilots I know loathe crossing the LA basin because of the stress it causes. Weather is usually the least of our concerns, but add it in and there’s a lot of risk. All the major airports are well separated, but it’s the small strips that are concerning.
GA rules might need a reshuffle or some special certifications going forward, esp for VNY.
Question for pilots- will there be any consequences for the Citation pilot? Im curious if records are kept for these types of incidents where a pilot couldve have caused an accident and if there are consequences.
Only if the tower controller submits a report about the incident or the Southwest pilot might file a NASA type report but those are de-identified. My guess is the tower controller won’t write it up since it wasn’t his finest hour either.
The pilot asked twice for vectors. Then give him 3 digits, but he never got them.
We didn't have all these air disasters before January 20...
Hi Joe,
Still obsolete but not extinct.
Bye Joe.
Seems like the Citation wasn’t prepared for the missed approach.
That being said, the VNY controller was giving him VFR instructions initially, not IFR instructions. It makes me wonder if he was originally cleared for the visual approach, contact approach, or something like that. Things like “advise you maintain” and “resume own navigation” are VFR instructions, not IFR. Same for the visual traffic callout. That would make more sense for what happened, since the pilot...
Seems like the Citation wasn’t prepared for the missed approach.
That being said, the VNY controller was giving him VFR instructions initially, not IFR instructions. It makes me wonder if he was originally cleared for the visual approach, contact approach, or something like that. Things like “advise you maintain” and “resume own navigation” are VFR instructions, not IFR. Same for the visual traffic callout. That would make more sense for what happened, since the pilot on the visual wouldn’t have a particular missed approach to fly and instead would be expected to execute a normal go around and then follow ATC heading and altitude instructions. A key requirement for a visual approach is that you report the field in sight though, which either didn’t happen or the storm moving over the field subsequently obscured his vision.
All of that being said, if he was on a visual or contact approach, the Tower’s subsequent instructions to fly the missed approach doesn’t make sense, so something doesn’t add up here.
Very poor planning on the part of the Citation pilots for not briefing the missed approach procedure prior to commencing the approach, especially at a busy airport like VNY with BUR just 8 miles away as Ben mentions. Back when I began IFR training, we always had to brief what we would do in case we went missed as your instructor could call for a go around at any times.
Are close calls happening more often or are we just hearing about them more?
It says right on the approach plate for the VOR-B at Van Nuys: "A descent to at or below 1750 may be required when executing an early missed approach". This is specifically because an early climb will put them right in approach path for Burbank.
This has eerily similar shades of the mid-air collision in San Diego with PSA 182 and a Cessna(?) in the late 70's/early 80's. SoCal. PSA, a (the first, really) low cost carrier. Scary.
PSA wasn't low cost. It bought the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar for SFO-LAX! It also had flights between SFO and LAX every 30 minutes using BAe 146 jets.
Perhaps Tim Dunn can advise us why Delta is a premium carrier compared to Southwest or this Cessna jet?
He doesn't have posting abilities currently so give it a rest. Don't let him live rent free in your head.
Agreed, PW. People who fixate on TD when he's not even posting are not making positive contributions to this community.
Don't we need to present his viewpoints?
Perhaps president Elmo can fire some more ATC controllers and FAA staff.
Probably one of the Cessna pilots was trans.
The incompetent ones who Didn't Earn It.