According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a passenger jet and a cargo plane had a ‘near miss’, after they were recorded to be less than a quarter mile apart over Fire Island, New York, on May 27.
The Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 was about to land at the runway #15 of the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport at about 3:08 p.m. when the air traffic controllers asked the pilot to ‘go-around’. The instruction was given to avoid a Sand Point-bound Ace Air Cargo Beechcraft 1900, which was taking off from the airport.
The passenger jet swerved off towards right; the cargo plane also took off and turned in the same direction. Above Fire Island, the aircrafts crossed each other at the same elevation within a quarter mile distance.
The Alaska airlines flight 135 landed without incident and all 143 passengers and 5 crew members remained unharmed.
NTSB has launched an investigation, led by a senior air traffic control specialist, based in Washington D.C. According to NTSB spokesperson Clint Johnson, “He’s going to be reviewing radar data, he’s going to be reviewing the conversations between the two pilots, the two flight crews and air traffic control and also looking at policies and procedures to look and document the circumstances that led up to this incident.”