Southwest Plane Just Misses Hitting Private Jet on Airport Runway, on Video

2:35 PM PT -- Air traffic control audio from the incident has been released, with digital video showing the airport grid ... and you can hear controllers giving directions as normal. A controller tells the smaller plane to "hold short," but the private jet continues to move toward one of the main runways. Then voices get urgent as they repeat "hold short!" and a controller tells the Southwest flight to climb to a higher elevation.

After a brief silence, the Southwest pilot drily asks, "Tower ... how'd that happen?"

The aviation experience just got a little scarier, if that was even possible -- a major tragedy was narrowly averted this morning on a runway in Chicago.

Hold on to your seats -- terrifying footage shows a Southwest Airlines jet plane aborting its landing at Midway Airport Tuesday morning, when a Challenger 350 private jet on the runway taxied into its path seconds before what would’ve been a devastating collision.

As you can see, the Southwest Airlines plane nearly touched down on the runway before its quick-thinking pilot pulled off a heroic move, yanking the plane back up into the air for an emergency go-around -- just a few hundred yards away from the private jet.

The pilot’s actions straight-up saved lives, and the plane, arriving from Nebraska, later landed safe and sound ... with Southwest confirming the crew followed safety protocols, and everything ended without a hitch.

The details are still murky about the Tennessee-bound private jet -- whether they saw the plane coming in, and the number of people onboard. The FAA is launching an investigation into the incident.