Last month, an American Airlines Boeing 777 from JFK was in a near-miss with two U.S. military C 17 cargo planes 80 miles south of NYC. The plans were within a mile of each other and National Transportation Safety Board announced it was investigating the incident today. A source told the Post, "Authorities suspect errors by Long Island-based air controllers and the jetliner’s pilot in the incident."
The incident occurred on January 20, with AA Flight 951 to Sao Paolo, Brazil and the two C 17's, which were headed to McGuire Air Force Base in NJ. The NY Times reports:
The airliner, a Boeing 777, was under the control of one Federal Aviation Administration air-traffic controller, and the two military planes were under the jurisdiction of another, but the three planes were near a boundary that divided the two controllers’ airspace, according to the aviation agency, which is also investigating.
Controllers told the pilots to take evasive action, and a cockpit warning system on the American plane also provided instructions, the safety board said. No one was injured.
The NTSB said it was unclear whether the planes were over the Atlantic Ocean or over NJ at the time of the near-miss. The agency also said that it was rare for a full investigation of a near miss. And, for those of you who remember the near-miss between two planes in Minneapolis last fall, those planes were just 100 feet from each other (the controllers were blamed).
