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.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.natca.org