- Now to a mid-air scare in the cockpit of a Southwest Airlines flight. The plane had just taken off from Las Vegas to Columbus when the pilot suffered a medical emergency. A pilot who worked for another airline happened to be a passenger on board and stepped into the cockpit to help with communications as the co-pilot took over and flew the plane back to Vegas. This new incident comes amid the FAA's urgent call to action following a recent series of alarming close calls on the runway and in the air. Trevor Ault is at LaGuardia Airport with more. Good morning, Trevor. - Good morning, Michael. So the FAA sent this warning to pilots, to airlines, to everybody who works at airports across America. They say pay attention and focus on your job, which seems remarkably obvious. But it comes on the heels of several avoidable incidents that dangerously came close to catastrophe. This morning, the FAA with a new alert urging continued vigilance from all airline and airport employees, that sharp reminder coming on the heels of at least seven close calls at American airports, including one at New York's JFK Airport where a Delta pilot had to slam on the brakes after an American Airlines plane crossed the runway. TOWER: Delta 1943 cancel takeoff plans. PILOT: Rejecting. All right there and whew. TREVOR AULT: The FAA's alert reinforces several simple but critical guidelines for flight crews, reminding pilots to avoid personal conversations in the cockpit and asking they be especially aware while taxiing and crossing active runways ensuring the runway is completely clear before entering for takeoff. - We're not perfect as humans. And we have built systems in to anticipate people are going to make these mistakes but to stop them before the aircraft actually taxi's in front of another. We need to redouble those efforts. TREVOR AULT: The safety alert comes just days after this slew of airport incidents prompted an emergency FAA safety summit. And this comes on the heels of President Biden who has nominated Phil Washington, the CEO of Denver International Airport, to be the new head of the FAA. But his confirmation has been put on hold indefinitely. Right now, it doesn't look like they have the votes to get him confirmed. Whit. - Yeah. That nomination getting a lot of attention. All right, Trevor. Thank you.