FAA Investigates Alaska-FedEx Newark Close Call After Reported 300-Foot Clearance

Federal investigators are examining why an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 and a FedEx Boeing 777 converged over intersecting runways at Newark Liberty International Airport, where preliminary flight-tracking data indicates the aircraft cleared each other by approximately 300 to 325 feet.

The incident occurred around 8:17 p.m. Tuesday, October 27. Alaska Airlines Flight 294 was arriving from Portland, Oregon, while FedEx Flight 721 was arriving from Memphis, Tennessee. The Federal Aviation Administration said a controller instructed the Alaska flight to go around because the FedEx aircraft had been cleared for final approach to an intersecting runway. The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting a separate investigation.

Air traffic control audio and preliminary Flightradar24 data place the Alaska 737 at approximately 150 feet above the ground when the go-around was issued, seconds before its expected touchdown. The passenger jet climbed away while the FedEx 777 continued its approach and landed. The reported 300-to-325-foot clearance is a radar-derived estimate, not a final measurement or finding from either federal investigation.

Why the runway geometry raises the operational stakes

Intersecting runways require controllers and flight crews to manage not only each aircraft’s assigned landing surface but also the point where their ground paths or airborne flight paths cross. Simultaneous use can support airport operations, but it creates a direct coordination dependency: an aircraft using one runway must remain separated from traffic using the other.

The FAA’s air traffic control procedures for intersecting runways call for traffic information to be issued to the aircraft involved. They also require an arriving aircraft to be kept from crossing the other aircraft’s runway or flight path until the specified separation conditions exist. When visual separation is used, control instructions and traffic advisories must ensure that a go-around or missed approach avoids the flight path of traffic on the other runway.

Those provisions explain why the go-around is central to the investigation. A go-around is a standard safety maneuver, and Alaska Airlines said its pilots are highly trained to perform it. At approximately 150 feet, however, the aircraft was already in the final stage of the approach. Investigators will need precise timing to determine where both airplanes were when the instruction was issued, acknowledged and carried out.

The altitude alone does not identify an error. Go-arounds can be initiated from very low altitude, and a landing clearance does not eliminate the need to discontinue an approach when conditions require it. The relevant operational issue is whether the instruction and resulting flight paths provided the required separation between two large aircraft approaching crossing surfaces.

What investigators still need to establish

The FAA and NTSB have not announced a cause or assigned responsibility. Establishing the sequence will require reconciling controller communications, aircraft positions, clearances and crew responses on a common timeline. That work can show when each landing clearance was issued, what traffic information accompanied it and how the projected paths changed once the Alaska crew began climbing.

The preliminary distance also needs formal validation. Public flight-tracking services are useful for reconstructing broad movement, but federal investigators can draw on surveillance records, communications and aircraft data to refine position, altitude and timing. A final assessment may therefore differ from the initial estimate of 300 to 325 feet.

Human factors extend beyond the single go-around command. Intersecting-runway operations depend on shared situational awareness among controllers and crews, unambiguous instructions, correct readbacks and enough time to act if the planned spacing changes. The investigation must determine how those elements functioned Tuesday rather than infer fault from the final visible maneuver.

FedEx said Flight 721 followed air traffic control instructions and landed safely without incident. Alaska Airlines said air traffic control issued the go-around. Both aircraft completed the event safely, but the unresolved safety question remains concrete: how two cleared arrivals reached intersecting flight paths before one was redirected at approximately 150 feet.

By Thomas Caldwell — AMI’s senior editor for mechanical and mobility engineering, covering vehicle electronics, systems integration, electrification, chassis systems, propulsion, and safety policy.