The FAA is looking into a potential airplane collision at the Portland airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into how two commercial airplanes almost collided last Monday under severe rain at Portland International Airport in Oregon.

An air traffic controller can be heard giving frantic directions to the crew of an Alaska Airlines jet to veer away from a nearby SkyWest airplane in audio of the incident that has been shared online.

The pilot of Alaska Airlines Flight 1299 started a go-around because of the wind and turned toward SkyWest Airlines Flight 3978, which had just taken off, according to a statement from the FAA. “An air traffic controller gave the Alaska Airlines pilot instructions to steer clear of the SkyWest plane.”

According to publicly accessible flight tracking data, the flights were ascending from parallel runways at the time – the Alaska Airlines jet had just attempted to land on runway 28 Left in Portland, while the SkyWest flight had just taken off from runway 28 Right. At the time of the mishap, there was heavy rain and limited visibility, according to aviation meteorological records.

The FAA claims that as part of their inquiry, it would “determine the closest proximity between the aircraft.”

The Alaska flight, which had originally taken off from John Wayne Airport in California, was ultimately diverted to Roberts Field in Redmond, Oregon, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. As expected, the SkyWest airplane touched down in Seattle.

Alaska Airlines, SkyWest, and the National Transportation Safety Board have all been contacted by CNN for additional comment.

A string of nearly crashes motivates safety investments
Travelers have increased significantly since the end of the coronavirus pandemic, and multiple stories of near-collisions between commercial planes this year have alarmed the public and forced regulators to address safety concerns.

Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation, requested assistance from representatives of the sector in addressing the issue’s underlying roots in March. “It would be one thing if we found a particular piece of technology in the cockpit or a certain control tower where there were a lot of issues,” Buttigieg said to CNN. “However, what we’re discovering is that this increase appears to be affecting controllers, ground workers, and pilots equally. Some people have compared it to rust.