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Expert: Close Calls in the Sky – ‘A Catastrophe Waiting to Happen’

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A KHOU 11 I-Team investigation uncovers the rising number of close calls between airplanes as FAA statistics show the number of flights worked by air traffic controllers fell by more than 1.5 million (www.khou.com) المزيد...

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egharrel
Evan Harrel 10
The story characterizes the two planes as coming "within feet" of each other. It was 3,403 feet, to be exact, or more than one kilometer. This is overly sensationalized, without a doubt.
devsfan
ken young 1
Yes. Note those interviewed. A former commercial pilot....Hmm. he looks relatively young. Why is he no longer flying?
And of course the 'parachute attorney"....So we're just going to take THESE GUYS word for it?
Look, the skies are crowded near large cities. Many airports that when built were on the outskirts of urban areas are now in some cases, in among heavily populated areas.
With that, there all kinds of noise restrictions which force aircraft into smaller portions of available air space.
I'm sorry but the system is is using outdated technology. Unless the rules have changed, aircraft are forced to be flown along "routes" instead of using the most efficient pathway through the sky.
devsfan
ken young 1
Even..I have a question. Now please permit my ignorance....It is my understanding that min separation in is it "Class B"?, airspace is two miles?
Is that two miles both fore and aft as well as off the wing tips?...If not, them how is it a 3400 ft separation considered a hazard?
linray33
Ray Laughinghousr 1
The minimum separation is three miles in Class B except in some special circumstances. The separation is fore and aft and wing tip to wing tip (laterally).

Please note I have been retired 14 years but do keep up with changes to the zATC sysrem...
linray33
Ray Laughinghousr 1
Should be...'to the ATC system.' Bumped the post button by accident
donjohnston
donjohnston 7
Well, the story was done by a local news crew. What do you except. BTW, is this sweeps week?
devsfan
ken young 1
February is a very important sweeps month. It is the second to last period in which ratings are taken. Of course this applies especially to network prime time.
If one compares TV news from 30-40 years ago to the present, today's version of "news" is inferior.
donjohnston
donjohnston 1
Can't edit... Should be "what do you expect."
tkhall
Tom Hall 5
Gee, let's see. Large International Airport. Lot's of traffic. I suppose if they closed The airports, then Houston would be "safe". Then they could drive to Dallas if they need a flight. (If they could get there for all the crash debris!). Another case of sensational journalism with major displace of ignorance. Must have been a slow news day.
watkinssusan
mary susan watkins 2
a story similar to this has been aired locally before,and also a national news story on the same issue...I live in the flight pattern for iah ao I see aircraft of all sizes flying at different altitude on approach to the airport..they use the same approach pattern daily depending upon the winds,and also it appears , the same altitude..i also worked at iah for many years, and observed aircraft taking off and landing,as well as having taken a few flights out of that airport myself..the air traffic controllers have their radar screens on which to base take off and landing instructions to pilots..the rest of us have only our perception visually of what is occurring..if more than a few pilots report "close calls" when they are landing or taking off,then this is just not a "slow news day " story..i might add i also live close to a small regional airport that does flight training,and I have observed small aircraft (and some small jets) coming within close proximity of one another..iah is a large international airport which has peak or "bank" times for flight schedules, and it is also a hub for united airlines,so it is a busy airport..
bcdueck
Barry Dueck 2
Dear Sir or Madam,

I happen to be an instrument rated pilot and understand the traffic control systems intimately. I believe the article you wrote is both alarmist and misleading. First of all, you infer that a “loss of separation” is the same as a near miss. Such an inference is astonishingly misleading. In separating traffic, there must be separation standards and those standards must be adhered to. If, in a particular phase of flight, the separation standard is 5 miles, 4.9 miles represents “loss of separation”. 5 miles is safe and 4.9 miles is safe but it is still loss of separation. The line in the sand is the standard, not a near miss! That cannot be over emphasized.

Near misses often rely on self-reporting by pilots which may be quite misleading. I have had flown head on into an airliner when he was 1,000 feet higher than I was. At altitude, that 1,000 feet looks awfully close but it is not. It is the standard! Perhaps some nervous pilots might report that as an “incident” because they thought it looked closer and deserved to be reported?

The other issue that is not even mentioned is TCAS. Even if a controller accidentally ordered two pilots to fly on a collision course, the controller does not have the last word. Both pilots would receive TCAS warnings to turn in opposite directions away from each other and/or climb and descend away from each other. Those TCAS instructions trump all instructions from controllers. Even in the worst case, there is still a human failure/error mitigation system and it is called TCAS. Even a near miss is unlikely to result in a collision. A single controller error will not result in a collision. There have to be a multitude of errors for a collision to occur. First there has to be an egregious error by a controller putting two planes on a direct collision course and then both pilots have to ignore their TCAS instructions. It has happened to me. Flying into a “smaller” airport in Florida, terminal radar was inoperative with VFR traffic in abundance. TCAS warned me that I was on a collision course with VFR traffic and what action to take. Not only does TCAS tell you what to do, it also shows you exactly where that potential conflict is (laterally and vertically) and exactly what he is doing (laterally and vertically) and exactly what you should be doing (laterally and vertically)!

Sooner or later there will be a collision. No system involving humans will ever be perfect. To make it perfect would render it un-useable, either from a prohibitively expensive point of view or from an operational point of view. We have bicycles and they collide. We have cars and they collide. We have trains and they collide. We have planes and they collide. If your paper was to report on every car crash in the US every day, you would have no readers left within a few days. Some 40,000 people are killed in car crashes very year. If you now reported on near misses in the automobile world, you would not find enough paper to do the job! You do report on every airplane crash. Why? Because it is sensational and that is what sells!

Perhaps you would do well to now write another article applauding airline safety. You should write the article in an all-inclusive manner. There is back up upon back up and the system is incredibly safe!

Barry Dueck
Commercial Pilot
Darkhorse145
Darkhorse145 1
Separation standard is determined by where you are operating, in a terminal environment like Houston and all stand alone approaches its usually 3 miles, with the exception of heavy and super wake category aircraft and then you need 5 - 6 miles. depending on phase of flight. When you transition to talking to a center the separation standard increases to 5 miles.
bcdueck
Barry Dueck 1
That is correct ....hence I referred to "phase of flight" in my commentary. It depends on whether you are in radar or non radar environment or whether on approach or departure or in cruise and vertically dependant on altitude or RVSM etc etc etc
gzelna
Greg Zelna 2
"the number of flights being worked by air traffic controllers nationwide have dropped by more than 1.5 million a year during the same period."
While 'close calls' are rising. Questions that come to mind, has the total number of Controllers dropped significantly , ie: are the remaining ATC'ers handling more flights than they used to ? #2 have work conditions for ATC changed to the detriment of their performance- ie: longer hours, reduced breaks, etc ? Have hiring criteria (ie: experience, training) been reduced for ATC ? Are we talking about a comparably qualified pool of ATC ? Lastly, whos 'at fault' in these close calls, ATC mis-instruction or pilots not following ATC direction- in these attempts to put 'two planes in the same place at the same time' ?
hortod1
dj horton 2
more worried about colliding with a drone. at least anything with a xpndr should show up on radar and/or tcas. some of the drones i see at the mall are pretty big. and i assume they're only going to get bigger.
steveclaudy
Steve Claudy 2
I did not realize until I downloaded the onboard camera that last weeks close call was captured on camera. Drones do not approach at 160knots, you have only seconds to react. My aircraft is equipped with Mode C, altitude reporting, I am 100% certain that Potomac had us on radar, we had just left the DC SFRA and squawking 1200. It was no longer Potomac's responsibly to maintain separation. You need your head on a swivel at all times, you can bet I will increase my outside scan on the next trip out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCIHGVQGC6g
Darkhorse145
Darkhorse145 1
2.99 miles is a loss of separation 3 miles is the standard dramatization at its best.
steveclaudy
Steve Claudy 1
I experienced a CLOSE call last week, RV6 passed within a 100 feet over the cockpit just after leaving the DC SFRA. Potomac does a great job calling traffic within the SFRA however the minute you leave the area and start squawking 1200 you are on your own. I was flying C172 being a high wing I cannot see above, RV6 being a low wing cannot see below, pass us perpendicular to our path of flight just over the windshield. I was using foreflight with ADSB in for traffic alerts but by the time it flashed in LARGE letters TRAFFIC it was to late. I know Potomac approach could see this on radar (if they were not busy watching other traffic), running mode C in this area they have altitude information, for them it had to look like a midair collision. Not a peep out of Potomac. Instructors always preached head out of the cockpit and head on a swivel, this has renewed this concept for me, glad to be around to fly again. I am 100% certain the RV6 was none the wiser of just how close he was to leaving to bonds of Earth?

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