An investigation was opened into the near miss of an Alaska Airlines commercial flight and a FedEx cargo plane when landing in Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) on March 17. The investigation into this incident is being pursued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
A near miss incident
The Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft passed above a FedEx Boeing 777 aircraft in Newark. According to data from Flightradar24, the Alaska aircraft was only 300 feet clear from the FedEx aircraft, causing the near miss on March 17. The Alaska Airlines plane was travelling from Portland International Airport (PDX), and the FedEx plane travelled from Memphis International Airport (MEM).
An air traffic controller had told the Alaska Airlines crew to perform a go-around, which means to abort the approach and climb back up for a new landing approach. Alternatively, the FedEx flight was cleared for landing on an intersecting runway, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
What has been released since the incident?
Both the NTSB and the FAA are investigating the incident.
Alaska Airlines released a statement that the Boeing 737 flight was cleared for landing and that the airline’s pilots were fully trained for the go-around procedure they were told to do.
FedEx has also released a statement, saying the crew flying the aircraft were listening to the air traffic controllers and performed a safe landing according to their instructions.
What do you think about this near miss between an Alaska Airlines aircraft and a FedEx aircraft? Let us know in the comments below.
