Alaska Near Miss incident is currently being investigated by officials, reports the Associated Press. The near-disastrous, Alaska Near Miss incident reportedly happened when an Alaska Airlines with 148 passengers nearly hit a cargo plane on Tuesday.
According to The Daily Mail, the National Transportation Safety Board recently reported the Alaska Near Miss incident between an Alaska Airlines passenger jet and a cargo plane over Anchorage's Fire Island south of the city's main airport.
Clint Johnson, the agency's spokesman relayed how the Alaska Near Miss incident went down. He said that the incident happened as an Alaska Airlines flight inbound from Portland, Oregon was starting to land at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday. At the same moment, air traffic controllers started giving instructions for the aircraft to do a 'go-around.'
The order prevented the Alaska Near Miss incident. The order was reportedly given to the jet in order to avoid an Ace Air Cargo Beechcraft 1900 prop-jet taking off for Sand Point from the airport's north-south runway.
According to Johnson, the Alaska Airlines passenger jet veered towards the right and the cargo plane was also able to turn in the same direction. The aircraft reportedly passed within a quarter-mile of each other at the same elevation.
Fortunately, despite the Alaska Near Miss incident, Alaska Airlines Flight 135 was able to land safely. The aircraft was, at the time, had on board 143 passengers together with its five crew members.
The close proximity of the aircraft during the Alaska Near Miss incident was apparently enough for the agency to describe the incident as a 'near miss.'
Johnson also detailed that both aircraft were so close that at least one pilot spotted the other plane. He said that an NTSB investigation has recently started in order to find out what went wrong which caused the Alaska Near Miss incident. The investigation is reportedly being headed up by a senior air traffic control specialist who is based in Washington, D.C.
The agency will now be reviewing data from both the Anchorage control tower and the two jets involved.
Ace Air Cargo's chief pilot was Todd Erickson. He said the Ace aircraft was aware of the situation and in contact with the control tower during the entire Alaska Near Miss incident.
According to Alaska Dispatch, Erickson said, "There was no danger. Once Alaska Airlines radioed they had the 1900 in sight, our crew had no cause for concern."
Alaska Near Miss incident reportedly involved a Boeing 737 aircraft equipped with a collision avoidance system, said an Alaska Airlines spokeswoman. The collision avoidance system was able to alert the crew that the other aircraft was close by. This in turn resulted in the pilots increasing their altitude.
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