Close call for a YVR-bound flight in Houston last month
Posted May 23, 2014 9:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HOUSTON (NEWS1130) – It was a close call for a Vancouver-bound United Airlines flight earlier this month in Houston, Texas.
The Federal Aviation Administration says United Flight 601 was departing for Vancouver at the same time as another United flight was taking off for Mexico City from George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
The planes got within less than a kilometre from each other, with one just 120 metres above the other, after an air traffic controller instructed one plane to turn to the right instead of the left.
With the planes just seconds from impact, the same controller realized the mistake and can be heard quickly instructing the Vancouver-bound plane to stop its climb and stop the turn.
The FAA says the controller who made and corrected the error is still on the job.
None of the 225 passengers aboard the two aircraft were aware of the mid-air close call.
This incident comes just two weeks after a near miss between two passenger jets over New Jersey.
