Two passenger planes came within half a mile of each other in stormy skies over Portland International Airport last week, prompting a federal investigation.
The situation occurred when an Alaska Airlines flight from Southern California attempted to land on a runway next to where a SkyWest plane had taken off on Monday around 4:15 p.m., according to the Oregonian.
The Alaska plane diverted and aborted its landing amid increasingly urgent instructions from an air traffic controller, according to a publicly available recording and visual simulation posted by VASAviation.
The planes were about 1,800 feet apart horizontally and had 250 feet of space between them vertically, the newspaper estimated.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, which was investigating, a mid-air near-collision occurs when planes are within 500 feet of each other.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1299 began turning toward SkyWest Airlines Flight 3978 after its pilot appeared to confuse the air traffic controller’s instructions and turn right instead of keeping the plane straight. VASAviation / Youtube
Visibility at the time of the incident was less than a mile as the area was reportedly flooded by heavy rain and fog.
Strong winds had initially prevented Alaska Flight 1299 from landing, and the plane descended to an altitude of 100 feet before ascending to perform a “turnaround” or other attempt, according to the outlet.
At the same time, SkyWest Airlines Flight 3978 took off on a parallel runway.
According to the FAA, a near miss occurs when planes are within 500 feet of each other. Getty Images
The air traffic controller ordered the Alaska flight to maintain a “runway heading” trajectory, while the SkyWest plane was ordered to turn right. Instead, the apparently confused pilot of Flight 1299 repeated instructions to the other plane and began heading to the right, while Flight 3978 continued straight.
For the next 40 seconds or so, the planes appeared to be heading toward a possible collision course and the air traffic controller seemed to grow nervous as he gave increasingly frantic instructions, eventually misidentifying the Alaska flight as “1298.”
The Alaska flight was reportedly diverted to an airport 150 miles away and was unable to land in Portland until 11:45 p.m.
Both airlines issued statements to the newspaper downplaying the incident.
“The crew of Flight 1299 followed cockpit guidance and reacted immediately to increase separation from the other aircraft,” an Alaska spokesperson said. “The aircraft maintained safe lateral separation throughout the event.”
“At no time was the safety of the flight compromised,” SkyWest said.
It was unclear how many people were aboard the two planes.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn