Controllers Report Near-Miss at JFK Airport

NEW YORK (AP) -- The FAA says it's looking into a claim by air traffic controllers that two planes -- one departing and one landing
-- came within about 100 feet of a collision at New York's Kennedy Airport over the weekend.

"As of this time, we have no report of any such encounter,'' FAA spokeswoman Lynn Tierney said Monday. "We are pulling the tapes'' to determine what, if anything, took place. One of the airlines said it hadn't received any report of the incident.

National Air Traffic Controllers Association spokesman Barrett Byrnes said Cayman Airways Flight 792 executed a routine "go-around'' -- pulling up at the last minute instead of landing -- around 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Meanwhile, LAN-Chile Flight 533 was leaving from a perpendicular runway.

Byrnes says the controller ordered the inbound pilot to take a hard left and the outbound a hard right, avoiding a collision.

Sounds like 22R and 13L were in use. This happens more times then people realize. I witnessed one such incident with an Air China Cargo 747 and a Virgin A340 while shooting one day....thought for sure they were going to hit each other. The config is one of the most dangerous setups today.

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Originally Posted by T-Bird76

Sounds like 22R and 13L were in use. This happens more times then people realize. I witnessed one such incident with an Air China Cargo 747 and a Virgin A340 while shooting one day....thought for sure they were going to hit each other. The config is one of the most dangerous setups today.

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I agree; it seems fairly obvious there is some risk there.

Tom

a go-around is not a near miss. a go-around is executed to avoid a near-miss and/or eventual collision.

To quote the late, great George Carlin, "a near-miss is actually a hit...aw look, they nearly missed."

It should be renamed a near-hit, or near collision for those that think "near hit" sounds too clumsy.

Regardless of what you call it, Matt is right, go-around's happen every day at airport's around the world. Someone just happen to see this one and it made it to the news, on a slow news weekend.

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Originally Posted by T-Bird76

Sounds like 22R and 13L were in use. This happens more times then people realize. I witnessed one such incident with an Air China Cargo 747 and a Virgin A340 while shooting one day....thought for sure they were going to hit each other. The config is one of the most dangerous setups today.

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Just saw a piece on Ch 7 news, and that is what happened. The LAN jet was departing on 13R and the Cayman 737 was arriving on 22(L/R?). Cayman executed a missed approach and was headed for the LAN jet. Controllers gave each a turn away from the other. According to the controllers' union official, the jets were 100 feet apart, and the Cayman 737 overflew the LAN 767.

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Originally Posted by cancidas

a go-around is not a near miss. a go-around is executed to avoid a near-miss and/or eventual collision.

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Actually, the go-around was what put the two jets into the situation. If the Cayman jet landed normally, it wouldn't have been an issue.

And it's called a "near-miss" because although planes miss each other, they are inside of required separation standards. We have "far-misses" all the time. :wink:

The Cayman flight, CAY 792, a B733, should have been vectored for a Canarsie VOR 13L Approach. Why it got sent to arrive on 22L is strange enough. All other aircraft were going to Canarsie at the time. Did CAY 792 request 22L ? Why was LAN 533, a B763, cleared for departure from 13R before the B733 was on the ground? This happened at 2036, the B763 was at 1200' and the B733 was at 300'. The visibility wasn't too great anyway. I was watching other aircraft over Coney Island at the time approaching Canarsie while watching a baseball game. 22L arrivals should never be permitted after-dark when aircraft are departing 13R, period. This has happened way too often.