Southwest 737 and Learjet in Close Call at Midway

When pilots screw up - pilots die. When controllers screw up - pilots die!

“What technology clears us on the runway when there’s a plane taking off?” one of the Southwest pilot’s asked air traffic controllers directly after the incident.

Pilots are now relying on "technology" to replace situational awareness and common sense? We were taught in grade school to look both ways before crossing the street. I took off over the top of a United 727 at DFW many years ago and the United captain never knew it had happened. He had taken the clearance to cross the runway that was issued to another airplane and never looked down the runway before he crossed. He would have seen my 737 roaring toward him with all landing lights on and smoke billowing behind. Unfortunately, the controller took the error and not him.

Hey all,
I was the first officer in this situation. Runway 31C at MDW has a high-speed exit (taxiway B), which puts you blind to 31R initially. When we were cleared to cross 31R, which is very close laterally to 31C, we had to make a hard right turn onto Taxiway N, which now gives you a glimpse of 31R just before you are at the hold short line to 31R. I heard the clearance to cross, but remained heads-up the entire time, and didn't just rely on technology or the controller's eyes. By the time I could even see the Lear approaching, we had crossed the hold-short line, but, contrary to the article, were not on the actual surface of 31R, albeit very close. What the article also got wrong, which was due to the NTSB transcriptionist misinterpretation of the audio tapes, was that I asked the tower controller to acknowledge that he had just cleared us to cross a runway that had and aircraft taking off. I wanted to make sure he was aware of what just took place (or almost took place.) He then sent us to ground control. What I did not say is the statement was "What technology clears us for takeoff..." Listening to the audio, and given my accelerated rate of speech, it sounds a little like what the media and NTSB reported, but if you listen again, knowing what I just wrote, you can hear me asking tower to "acknowledge" which does sound a little like "technology" over the radio. But rest assured, I was not having a debate with the controller, since I knew he and I still had jobs to do. When we called the tower supervisor on the phone, he freely admitted his controller made a HUGE mistake, and he thanked me for being heads up. So if any0ne still thinks we were "blindly" crossing the runway, I hope this clears things up a little. BTW, not a single chief pilot, investigator, fellow SWA pilot, or anyone else who has flown into MDW that I have shared my experience with feels we could have done anything better. Fly safe!