San Diego Runway Incident Tied to Controller’s ‘Poor Judgment,’ Report Finds

NTSB also cites supervision lapses that led to loss of separation between Southwest 737 and Citation.

Ryan Ewing

Tuesday, September 30, 2025 at 03:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Aircraft in San Diego [Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

The NTSB determined that a 2023 runway incursion at San Diego International Airport was primarily caused by an air traffic controller's poor judgment in prioritizing unrelated tasks.
The incident involved a Southwest Airlines flight holding for departure and a Cessna Citation cleared to land on the same runway, leading to a loss of required separation.
A contributing factor was the operations supervisor's distraction with a faulty flight strip printer instead of maintaining oversight of active operations.

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The National Transportation Safety Board has released its final report on a runway incursion incident at San Diego International Airport (KSAN) in August 2023, citing “poor judgment” and oversight lapses by air traffic control as the cause.

According to the report, Southwest Airlines Flight 2493, a Boeing 737-700, was holding in position for departure on Runway 27 when a Cessna Citation was cleared to land on the same runway. The airport’s ground radar system, Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model-X (ASDE-X), triggered both visual and aural alerts warning of the conflict.