Planes Almost Collide Over Kennedy Airport

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Concerns about air traffic control issues were also frequently expressed prior to CDC

Feb 23, 2000 - 08:49 AM

Planes Almost Collide Over Kennedy Airport

The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Two planes carrying hundreds of passengers nearly collided over Kennedy International Airport, aviation officials said.

A cockpit warning system in one of the planes, which were on a collision course, helped pilots avert a possible crash.

Normal procedures took the planes, a Delta Boeing 727 and a Lockheed L-1011 flown by Tradewinds

Airlines, within 2/3 of a mile of each other Saturday when they should have been at least 2 miles apart, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.

At about 9 a.m., Delta Flight 151, headed for Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was taking off from Runway 4 left.

Tradewinds Flight 798 was preparing to land on Runway 4 right, which is parallel and several hundred yards to the southeast.

While the Delta jet sped toward takeoff, the Tradewinds pilots decided - for unspecified reasons - to abort their landing, resulting in the planes' flying on parallel courses to the northeast.

The Delta pilots, following Kennedy takeoff rules, started to turn east - toward the Tradewinds jet. The planes' proximity triggered an alarm aboard the Delta plane, so its pilots instead flew straight ahead while the Tradewinds jet veered away.

"Within a matter of seconds, it was sorted out," FAA official Frank Hatfield told the New York Post.

The FAA was investigating the incident and planned to interview the pilots and the air traffic controllers and to review air traffic control tapes and radar plots.

"Missed runway approaches are perfectly acceptable and very common," FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said today.

The basic procedure after an aborted landing is to circle and attempt another landing, she said.

A near collision, called a loss of separation, is an extremely rare occurrence, she said. Each year,

Kennedy handles about 350,000 takeoffs and landings and experiences two or three near collisions.

Delta and Tradewinds spokespeople were not immediately available for comment.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGIGN2OZ05C.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 23, 2000


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