12 July, 2008

This Story will Make you More Afraid of Flying

If you are afraid of flying in an aeroplane, you might not like the recent 2nd near collision incident as reported by the Associated Press.

At the John F. Kennedy Airport, two airborne planes, one landing and the other taking off, came within a half-mile of colliding in the second such incident at the airport in a week, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

According to the report, a Delta Flight 123 (a Boeing 757) was arriving at the airport Friday when the pilot decided to abort his landing and execute a "go-around" — a routine procedure often used during heavy congestion. That caused the Delta flight to intersect with the flight path of Comair Flight 1520 (a Bombardier CRJ9), a regional jet that was taking off on another runway. Both planes came within 600 feet of each other vertically and a half-mile horizontally, the FAA said.

The first incident in the week occurs on saturday involved a Cayman Airways flight which was landing at JFK when the pilot decided to abort the landing a fly around the airport again as a LAN Chile jet was taking off. Their flight paths crossed, bringing the planes within about 200 feet of each other vertically and a half-mile horizontally.

According to the report, The FAA moved quickly to change takeoff and landing procedures at JFK on perpendicular runways — the kind of runways involved in both incidents.

If I were you, don't worry because such an incidents only occur at Airports with two perpendicular runways and usually occurs at very congested airport.

I admired the quick action taken by the FAA to ensure such an incident will not occur in the future. They only notice two near collision incidents and have taken a stern action by enforcing new procedures to change the way takeoffs and landings on perpendicular runways are sequenced.

Read HERE for more.

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