Greg Harris
Audio from air traffic control reveals the startling moment two aircraft almost collided while approaching an airport.
The incident occurred on Monday afternoon when the two planes were approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Republic Airways Flight 4464 veered from its ‘intended approach path’ and deviated dangerously close to Jazz Aviation Flight 554 as it prepared for landing shortly after 2:30pm, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The two flights glided within 350 feet of each other, according to data captured by Flightradar24, which pressured startled air traffic controllers to order the pilots to course correct ‘immediately’.
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In audio obtained by ABC News, one controller warned the Republic pilots: “You are flying through the approach course of runway 31 left. Correct immediately.”
Another controller witnessing the close call said: “Jazz 554 climb and maintain 3,000 (feet). The traffic on your left is overshooting the parallel.”
Flight crews responded to onboard alerts and effectively averting the planes from colliding midair, the FAA said.
Both flights landed safely shortly before 3 pm and now an investigation is now underway by the FAA.
Republic Airways, which was operating the flight for American Airlines, said the crew ‘received a resolution advisory’, a warning considered the most serious pilots can receive. It is an anti-collision announcement dispatched by the Traffic Collision Avoidance System on the aircraft.
It typically orders pilots to either climb or descend to avoid an imminent threat.
Jazz Aviation, the regional airline flying for Air Canada, said the crew received a ‘traffic warning notification and resolution’ and swift directions from air traffic controllers.
Airplane crashes and near-misses are the side of travelling none of us enjoy to thinking about however flying is still ranked one of the safest modes of transportation, consistently considered far safer than driving, trains, or motorcycles.
While it may feel as though airline incidents have increased over the past year, highlighted by events such as the American Airlines collision with a military helicopter over Washington, D.C., it can create the impression that plane crashes are more frequent than ever.
A former commercial pilot, crash investigator and expert in accident causation shed light last year on why he believes plane crashes are appearing to happen more often.
Shawn Pruchnicki, who previously worked for Delta Connection for a decade, previously revealed his experiences to the Daily Mail, including a near miss. He told the outlet: "I had just landed at JFK and a 747 was coming into land on a parallel runway. The control tower asked the pilot if he would be able to stop short of our location and he said that he could which meant they cleared us to cross the runway," he explained.
"We had a gut feeling that this pilot – who possibly wasn’t familiar with the airport - couldn’t do what he said and so we decided not to cross and to stay where we were.
"A few moments later the 747 blasted through right in front of us, hurtling past at a high rate of speed. If we’d crossed the runway as directed, there would have been a collision."
Opening up on the reasons why he thinks crashes seem to be happening more frequently, he highlighted an issue with 'the chronic shortage of air traffic controllers'.
He explained: "I feel for these controllers. They are over-worked and over-stressed – they know that if they make a mistake someone could die."