Jul 23, 2008 6:05 pm US/Central
Feds Investigate Near Collision At O'Hare
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a close call at O'Hare International Airport. CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports that air traffic controllers had to take action to avoid a collision on Monday.
One plane was taking off, the other was landing when they came in dangerously close proximity at 12:47 p.m. Monday.
NTSB officials said an American Eagle flight was taking off on runway 32L just as a corporate Learjet was landing on runway 9R, an intersecting airstrip.
An air traffic controller monitor noticed the pending problem and told the Learjet pilot to go around and the American Eagle pilot to stay low. In the end, the planes missed each other by 325 feet.
Darryl Wiegman, president of the O'Hare Air Traffic Controllers Union, said, "If we would have been told when the arrival ended and when the new arrival was coming in, this would not have happened … that's really the bottom line.
Wiegman said that's something Tracom (Training Command) regional controllers could have done, but Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said it was ruled an operational or controller error and the controller was sent for retraining.
Cory said the oversight was akin to crossing the street without looking both ways. As a result, the NTSB said new procedures for that runway are now in place.
But it's a concern to some flyers, including those on an American Airlines flight from Newark Wednesday, who say they had a few stressful moments when just before landing, the pilot quickly put the jet back in the air.
Passenger Kathy McGee said, "After pulling up, the pilot kind of flew around and then he finally came on and he said 'I'm sorry about that, but we had to do a pull-up.'" McGee works for WCBS-TV in New York. She also said the pilot said they had to do that because another plane was in their way.
Regarding Wednesday's incident, the NTSB said they haven't heard anything about it. The FAA said it was a routine go-around, coordinated well in advance and the result of a runway closed for construction.
No one was injured in either incident.
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