TCAS Averts Close Call Near Pittsburgh
Collision avoidance systems in the cockpits of two commercial
airliners apparently came to the rescue Tuesday, after an air
traffic control trainee accidentally directed a regional jet into
the path of a Delta Air Lines MD-88 at FL350.
Melissa Ott, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
spokeswoman for Cleveland Center (ZOB), told The Associated Press
the Delta aircraft was less than 10 seconds from colliding with a
PSA Airlines CRJ700 when the MD-88's traffic collision avoidance
system directed an immediate descent.
According to online flight tracking data from FlightAware.com,
the Delta plane dove 400 feet, while the CRJ climbed approximately
200 feet.
"We watched the recording of the incident three times and each
time I said, 'Oh my God,' " Ott said. "It was the closest call I
have ever seen in my 18 years of air traffic control. If they had
hit, it would have been a catastrophe."
The incident occurred at 0833 EST Tuesday over Somerset, PA and
involved Delta Flight 1654 from Cincinnati to New York LaGuardia,
and PSA Flight 2273 -- operating as US Airways Express -- from
Scranton, PA to Charlotte, NC.
FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the incident was an
operational error, and will go on the record of the veteran
controller overseeing the trainee's operations. "This ended with
the aircraft taking the appropriate action," she added. "The
controllers will be retrained."
Cory stated the two aircraft were separated by 400 feet
vertically, and three miles laterally. Ott maintains the aircraft
came a lot closer than that to one another; FAA standards at that
altitude call for vertical separation of 1,000 feet, and five miles
horizontal.
"The controller is new, with about a year on the job," Ott said.
"He did not notice the danger, neither did the controller who was
training him. They were both so busy, they did not notice."
As in past cases of apparent controller error, Ott chalked this
latest incident up to inadequate staffing levels at ZOB. "A year
ago that area would have been worked by 12 to 14 controllers," Ott
said. "Now it's handled by nine or 10. New controllers are
controlling airplanes much sooner than before. They used to train
two or three years before doing it."
Cory maintains staffing levels at the Air Route Traffic Control
Center are adequate.