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Planes' Near-Collision Investigated

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The Associated Press

Published: July 24, 2008

WASHINGTON - The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that it is investigating a near collision of airborne planes at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport - the third such incident at a major airport this month.

The board said in a statement that the latest incident occurred at 1:47 p.m. EDT Monday as American Eagle Flight 4298 was taking off on one runway and a private Learjet was arriving on another, perpendicular runway.

When air traffic controllers realized the planes' flight paths intersected and the jets were about to collide, they ordered the Learjet to abort its landing and fly around the airport again. The American Eagle ERJ-145, a regional jet, was instructed to stay low on departure.

The board said the Learjet passed "325 feet above and slightly behind" the departing the American Eagle jet.

At the high rate of speed the two planes would have to have been traveling and the narrowness of the distance they came from each other, "There is no margin of error or safety there," said Ken Mead, a former Transportation Department inspector general. "It's almost random chance they don't hit each other when they get that distance."

The runway the Learjet tried to land on had been closed to landings moments before the incident, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Lynn Tierney.

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