But How Close Was It?

There was another close call in the nation's skies last week, though it didn't garner the headlines last Tuesday's near-miss involving a Midwest Express regional jet and a United Express aircraft did. The FAA says that's because the two planes involved in this example really didn't come all that close.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association begs to differ... saying the November 11 incident over Fresno, CA is yet another example of the kinds of mistakes overworked controllers can make when they're tired, and underpaid.

Here's what happened. A controller -- working on his seventh day in a row, on his second overtime shift, according to the controllers union -- apparently made a mistake. The resulting mishap brought two small passenger jets within four miles of each other.

"The controller involved stopped the departure at 21,000 feet and then tried to apply visual separation rules between these two airplanes to allow the departure to keep climbing," said Scott Conde, NATCA president at the Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Ceoner. "The problem is that visual separation rules are only allowed below 18,000 ft. so the misapplication of the rule caused those aircraft to pass dangerously close."

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says what the union calls a close call, was little more than a minor -- by safety standards -- breach of regulations.

"They didn't come close together at all," Gregor told San Francisco's 740-KCBS. "We require that aircraft be separated by five miles in that airspace and these aircraft were about four miles apart and the key point here is that they had each other in sight and one aircraft was actually flying away from the other. So they were never at any point on a collision course."

Conde disputes that assertion... and adds the controller in question was charged with an operational error. NATCA says the incident once again highlights the FAA's attempt to do too much, with too few properly-trained people.

"These types of mental errors will continue to happen as staffing erodes due to retirements and resignations," Conde said. "The FAA needs to step up and accept responsibility for putting the controller in this situation, and it needs to address the imposed working conditions that are driving controllers to retire and resign from the agency in bunches."

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