Jan 18, 2008 11:00 am US/Central
Another Near Collision Rattles New Jersey Airport
Continental Flights Came Within 600 Feet On Wednesday at Newark Liberty
NEWARK, N.J. (CBS) ―
There was another near mid-air collision at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey, Wednesday, forcing the FAA to call an emergency meeting on the matter.
For the second time in two months two planes nearly hit each other in the sky. This morning officials are trying to determine what is happening and the FAA will take measures to ensure against these incidents happening again.
For hundreds of passengers on board Continental Flight 536 from Phoenix and Continental Express Flight 26-14 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, it was a close call and a frightening afternoon. As the planes came in for landings on Wednesday, the space between them became very narrow , to the point that there was only 600 feet between the two.
"When you have two massive planes, each with hundreds of people and tons of jet fuel and flying at hundreds of miles an hour and coming within 600 feet of each other, that's a big deal," Sen. Charles Schumer said.
"It's a little bit scary but you gotta go with it and believe you are going to get where you have to get on time and safe," said passenger Darlene Richards.
Investigators blame an air traffic controller at TRACON which stands for Terminal Radar Approach . They are located on Long Island . TRACON was supposed to give the Continental Express crew the tower frequency for Newark, but instead guided the crew to the wrong frequency, the one for Teterboro Airport 13 miles away.
Sources tell local affiliate WCBS some procedures are at TRACON are now suspended. The union is disputing the fact the controller made an error.
"I don't really travel a whole lot so I don't think about it too much," added Jody Rice. "But seeing the stuff on TV scares me a little."
In December, two planes came within 300 feet of each other, causing one to make a hasty emergency adjustment in mid-air and fly over the other. Senator Schumer says the FAA needs to install a new state of the art warning system at New York area airports.
"They refuse to spend a few dollars to get up-to-date equipment in the hands of traffic controllers and airports here in New York," Sen. Schumer said.
The FAA will hold an emergency meeting on this so called 'procedural error' later on today.
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