A dangerous close proximity incident occurred during takeoff at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport involving a Volaris aircraft and a United Express aircraft.
The Volaris Airbus A320neo, registered N546VL and operating flight #N34321 on the Houston–San Salvador route on behalf of Volaris El Salvador, and a United Express Embraer E145, registered N11176 and operated by CommuteAir as flight #UA4814 on the Houston–Jackson route, experienced a serious near-miss during departure.
The incident took place on Thursday, December 18. After departing from Runway 33L, the Volaris A320neo was instructed to make a left turn. Shortly afterward, the United Express Embraer E145 was cleared for takeoff from Runway 33R and instructed to make a right turn.
As the aircraft departed almost simultaneously from parallel runways, they were expected to safely diverge in opposite directions provided the separation instructions were followed correctly. However, the Volaris aircraft made a right turn instead of the instructed left turn after takeoff, causing the two aircraft to converge dangerously. Both vertical and horizontal separation dropped to critical levels.
The critical proximity between the two aircraft was detected when the United Express pilots reported receiving a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) alert in the cockpit. Following the TCAS warning, the necessary procedures were executed, preventing a potential disaster. After the incident, both aircraft continued their flights and arrived safely at their intended destinations.
