Two Planes Near Miss Houston: FAA Investigating After Two Planes Nearly Collide In Mid-Air

Two planes were a near miss in Houston, Texas, while in mid-air. According to The SpreadIt, the two planes were extremely close to one another as they flew over George Bush International Airport. Delta Air Lines Flight 2443 and Singapore Airlines Flight 61 were practically on top of one another just before 7 pm on Thursday, July 3. The FAA is currently involved in trying to figure out just what caused this close call.

“A primary investigation revealed that the pilot of a plane leaving Texas for Singapore for a yet undetermined reason was not able to level off at an altitude of 4,000 feet when he took off which lead to being very close to the Delta Air Lines which was arriving to Houston and was at an altitude of 6,000 feet.”

The two planes that were a near miss in Houston were rumored to be about 61m apart vertically and about 800m apart horizontally. While that may not seem like much, it is incredibly close for two airplanes. According to NBC News, however, the FAA is unclear exactly how close the two planes came to one another while in the air about 10 miles away from the airport.

The FAA released the following statement:

“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a loss of required separation that occurred Thursday evening between two jetliners while in airspace controlled by the Houston Terminal Radar Approach Control. An air traffic controller noticed the deviation and issued traffic alerts and instructions to the pilots of both aircraft.”

The two planes that had a near miss in Houston certainly aren’t the first two planes to nearly meet in mid-air. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, a Delta Airlines plane came very close to a Shuttle America aircraft over New York City last year. The two planes were four-tenths of a mile apart horizontally and 200 feet apart vertically — Regulation requires airplanes to be three miles horizontal or 1,000 feet vertical away from the next.

With all of the planes that are in the air on a daily basis, you can imagine just how precise things need to be at all times. Planes come close to one another from time to time — and that’s okay, as long as they are in the legal perimeters set by the FAA. Serious catastrophes could occur if a plane clipped another plane in mid-air. It’s very important for the FAA to stay on top of things like this to ensure that another close call doesn’t end in tragedy.

[Photo courtesy of Thomas Wang / Wikimedia Commons]