Alaska Near Miss: Alaska Airlines Flight & Cargo Plane Come Within a Quarter-Mile Of Each Other Over Anchorage

An Alaska Airlines flight had a near miss with a cargo plane over Anchorage's Fire Island according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.

According to NTSB spokesman Clint Johnson, the Alaska Airlines flight was arriving from Portland, Oregon and was starting to land at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport just after 3 p.m. Tuesday when it came too close to a cargo plane. Air traffic controllers gave the Alaska Airlines pilot instruction for a "go-around" in order to avoid an Air Cargo Beechcraft 1900 prop-jet that was
taking off for Sand Point from Ted Stevens north-south runway, the Alaska Dispatch reports.

According to Johnson, the Alaska Airlines jet veered to the right and the cargo plane had turned in the same direction. The aircraft passed just a quarter-mile of each other at the same elevation.

The Alaska Airlines Flight 135 landed at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport safely. The plane was carrying 143 passengers and five crew members at the time of the incident.

The closeness of each aircraft was so little that the NTSB calls the incident a "near miss. The planes were so close that one of the pilots was able to see the other plane.

The NTSB investigation is just beginning and it is being led by a senior air traffic control specialist based in Washington, D.C. The NTSB will review data from the Anchorage control tower and from both planes.

Ace Air Cargo's chief pilot Todd Erickson said the cargo plane crew was aware of the situation and remained in contact with air traffic control the whole time.
"There was no danger," Erickson told the Alaska Dispatch. "Once Alaska Airlines radioed they had the 1900 in sight, our crew had no cause for concern."

According to an Alaska Airlines spokeswoman, the Boeing 737 has a collision avoidance system which alerted the crew that the other plane was too close for comfort. Once alerted, the pilot increased their altitude.