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 concluded that a 2023 runway incursion at San Diego International Airport was primarily caused by an air traffic controller's poor judgment, as they prioritized unrelated tasks over monitoring aircraft.
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 was holding for departure when a Cessna Citation was cleared to land on the same runway, leading to a loss of required separation despite airport radar alerts.
A contributing factor was the operations supervisor's failure to maintain oversight of active operations, instead focusing on troubleshooting a jammed flight strip printer.
The incident resulted in the two aircraft coming within 100 feet of each other, though no injuries or aircraft damage occurred.

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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.

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.

Key Takeaways:

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