Third O'Hare Incident This Year

Another close call at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, this time involving a United Airlines 737 and an Atlas Air 747... and it was indeed close.

The FAA says the 737 was cleared for take-off from Runway 27 Left at about 10:00 pm Sunday night as the jumbo freighter was cleared to cross the active.

The result? They missed each other... but only by about 300-feet. In fact, the United 737 took off over the top of the 747.

At this point, the FAA isn't sure whether the crew aboard United Flight 1015 rotated early to avoid the Atlas freighter.

In any case... the FAA blames controller error, the direction the agency is also leaning towards in two other incidents that occurred in March, including an incident in which two planes came as close as 100 feet.

So... how can O'Hare, and other airports, solve this potentially catastrophic problem? One aviation consultant says the problem won't be solved, until the FAA insures controllers have the equipment they need.

"It has nothing to do with congestion. It has to do with no accountability at the FAA," said Michael Boyd to the Chicago Tribune. "O'Hare and other major airports don't have the aircraft-detection equipment they need. It is a mathematical probability that someone is going to die."

FMI: www.faa.gov