O'Hare Jets Missed by 35 Feet - Not 300

Nov. 15, 2006
The incident was one of the most serious in a string of runway incursions at O'Hare this year.

A close call between two planes at O'Hare Airport this summer was closer than originally reported.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that an Atlas Air cargo plane and a United Airlines jet came within 35 feet of colliding on July 23 -- not 300 feet as reported back in July by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The incident was one of the most serious in a string of runway incursions at O'Hare this year.

The United 737 was cleared for takeoff on Runway 27 Left around 10 p.m., just as the 747 cargo plane was landing on an intersecting runway. The United pilots lifted off early to avoid a crash, while an air-traffic controller yelled "Stop! Stop! Stop!," according to audio played during a computer simulation of the incident.

Controller error was cited as the cause of the near-collision.

But the NTSB on Tuesday, while presenting its "Most Wanted List" of safety improvements, faulted the FAA for dragging its feet on installing new technology that would make runways at O'Hare and other airports safer.

MORE SAFETY GEAR SOUGHT

The ground alert system that O'Hare has in place to prevent collisions was out of service on July 23. Even if it had been on, NTSB officials noted that it wouldn't have given the planes' pilots enough time to take evasive action.

NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said the incident "could have been catastrophic had the airmen not been skilled and not been lucky. Luck is not a way to run a safety system."

The FAA plans to install a more effective system called ASDE-X at O'Hare by next year.

Still, the NTSB said additional safety measures are needed.

For instance, the NTSB recommends that the FAA adopt new runway status lights that would alert pilots to potential collisions, even when air traffic controllers don't. Red lights on the center line of the runway would indicate that pilots should think twice before following a controller's directions to proceed with takeoff or landing.

The FAA is testing the status lights at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, but FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said there are no plans to adopt them at other airports until "we . . . make sure that everything works properly and it meshes well with what the controllers are trying to do."

The FAA must also secure funding for the lights and other technology recommended by the safety board.

There have been five runway incursions at O'Hare this year.

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