WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2008
Airliners Miss Colliding By 1 Minute
2 Planes Nearly Collide Over Atlantic, Sending Off Cockpit Alarms
-
Photo
(CBS)
-
Interactive
Industry Turbulence
See how the country's top airlines are faring
-
In The Spotlight
Cutbacks & Setbacks
U.S. air travel options shrink amid carrier strife
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating an incident in which a Delta Air Lines flight and a Russian-registered passenger jet were heading toward each other Thursday north of Puerto Rico when cockpit alarms went off.
The NTSB said the pilot of the Russian plane - a Transaero Boeing 747 - descended 200 feet to 300 feet to avoid Delta Flight 485.
The planes were at the same altitude - 33,000 feet over open ocean - and were "60 seconds apart from occupying the same airspace," said NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson.
Knudson said the agency doesn't have enough information yet to know if the planes would have collided had evasive maneuvers not been taken, or if they would have narrowly missed each other.
The two planes were about 180 miles north of San Juan when the near-collision occurred at about 6:30 p.m. EDT. The Delta Boeing 737 - with 152 passengers aboard - was headed from New York's Kennedy International Airport to Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The NTSB said there were no injuries.
"This was every bit the classic near miss," said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
The Delta pilot told air traffic controllers that the incident was "extremely close" and that he also took evasive maneuvers, said Victor Santore, a vice president of the controllers union. NTSB's Knudson said he could not confirm the controllers' account.
There was no FAA radar coverage in the area where the planes nearly collided - as is the case over most open ocean. The NTSB says aircraft are required to remain at least 15 minutes apart when flying through areas with no radar coverage.
Flight plans filed by the two airlines placed the aircraft on intersecting flight paths, which would have been fine as long as they stayed 15 minutes apart, Santore said.
Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton declined to provide any further details of the incident. "We are fully cooperating with the NTSB," said Talton.
The NTSB also reported Friday that it was investigating:
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Never trust the Russians.
Putin, the new Hitler.
"This was every bit the classic near miss," said Doug Church,"
STUPID- a near miss means a COLLISION, it''s a near HIT not a near miss! If you take evasive action and collide anyway then it was a NEAR MISS, if you t ake evasive action and don''t collide it was a NEAR HIT.
Reporters like this remind me of the idiots who don''t know the GROUND is outdoors not inside the livingroom when they describe someone falling "on the ground" in their bedroom.
But, oh look, I opened the window, poked me head out, and turned it upward. The sky is blue and pretty, and just like in the simulator there''s nary a plane in the sky.
What all this says, I have no idea...
Much of the industry relies upon the "Big Sky" theory.
With as many aircraft that are in the air at any given time, except for contrails, you almost never see them.
ACTUALLY, a "near miss" means two objects missed hitting each other by a small margin. (They were near to each other, and they almost hit one another.)
Another way to say the same thing is to say they "nearly hit". But you don''t often see or hear the term "near hit". A "near hit" might mean something similar to a "close strike", like when lightning strikes close to your house.
Nearly is an adverb. Look up the term "adverb" sometime. It could be your friend.
Posted by pat1967 at 11:07 AM : Aug 30, 2008
Actually,using your speeds,they would have been 20 miles apart. If x = collision point , 600 = rate of speed,and 1 min= time then that places each plane 10 miles from point x.
Still a heck of a lot safer than driving. No teenage airline pilots or drunken ones. Not to mention all of the old folks who shouldn''t be driving.
-
by trishab57
September 1, 2008 4:06 PM PDT
- Someone to make sure this was NOT an empty fake DeltaAirline passenger flight? Not one like the pretended flights that hit the twin towers?
-
Reply to this comment
-
See all 15 Comments-Why nothing is said about the Delta flight? There was nobody in the cockpit?