Saturday Night Live fans will get the title reference, but this story is actually no laughing matter.
Back in July, a departing United 737 and an arriving Atlas Air (cargo) 747 at Chicago/O’Hare were said to have missed each other by 300 ft. The NTSB has now come out saying that it was actually a mere 35 ft. In case the thought isn’t enough to scare you, the NTSB has put out a video re-creation of the near-miss along with real tower audio tapes. (Thanks to the IAG Blog.)
Here is a screen shot of the United 737 pulling up just in time to clear the Atlas 747 which rolled out into the middle of the runway.
Near-misses are a big problem at many airports around the country, and it’s an area we can expect to hear more about as new technology becomes available to help prevent the problem. Let’s just hope we can address it before a major accident occurs.
