There was a near-collision between two planes recently at one of the world’s busiest airports in one of the country’s biggest cities.
An American Airlines flight nearly hit a Tradewind Aviation flight as both were attempting to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City earlier this month.
Tradewind is a small airline based in nearby Connecticut.
The incident happened on November 10. It is one of a number of close-call incidents that have plagued the industry this year.
The Tradewind flight was told to land on runway 22-right and the American Airlines flight was instructed to land on runway 22-left.
While an air traffic controller insisted that both planes were not on the same runway, the American Airlines pilot can be heard on audio saying that the other flight was right above him. When it became apparent that the two flights were attempting to land on the same runway at the same time, the air traffic controller instructed the Tradewind pilot to land on 22-right.
Once again, a catastrophe was averted.
The American Airlines pilot called the control tower after landing and vented his frustration over the incident by saying "it got way too tight."
There has not been a fatal airline crash involving U.S. airlines in 13 years.
The Federal Aviation Administration addressed the number of close calls in a meeting with nearly 100 airport officials over the summer.
"We're trying to take a bigger look and do some deeper analysis to see what's going on," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said earlier this year.
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