The number of aircraft to suffer near misses more than doubled last year, though U.S. aviation officials have tied the increase in near misses to new systems that report mistakes that would not have been caught previously, according to CNN.
There were 4,394 cases where planes came too close to one another in the year ending in September of 2012. That number was up from 1,895 the year before, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
There were forty-one events that were characterized as "high-risk" events, though none of them resulted in accidents.
The FAA had previously predicted an increase in near misses as it phased in a new program that monitors radar and automatically report problems. However, it's difficult to use accident data to identify trends.
As a result, they have placed an increased emphasis on looking at "precursors" to accidents, such as a "loss of separation," where aircraft come closer together than intended.
"We are covering electronically and identifying things that we never did before," an FAA official said to CNN on condition of anonymity.
The 4,395 "losses of separation" occurred during 132 million takeoffs and landings, so it's not as frequent as the initial number may sound. It comes to 3.3 incidents per every 100,000 operations, according to the FAA.
"If you want a measure of safety, that's the number," the official said.
The FAA has various separation standards, depending on air space and aircraft. At higher altitudes, planes should be separated by at least five miles horizontally, or 1,000 feet vertically. Planes can be closer together when they are closer to airports.
According to the agency, they have worked with employees and the controllers' union to change the safety culture of the agency, putting an emphasis of the collection of data.
The new non-punitive reporting system encourages controllers to voluntarily report mistakes and problems.
Information that was collected in 2012 and 2013 will create a new baseline for meaningful comparisons in the future.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
