(CBS NEWS) The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation after two planes from major commercial airlines appeared to nearly collide mid-air in an unnerving dash camera video taken by police in Syracuse, New York, this week. Although experts say the flights were not actually on a collision course, based on preliminary evidence, they were for a time flying in very close proximity — just 725 feet apart at their nearest point.
The incident happened at around 11:50 a.m. EDT on Monday, officials said, as the two regional jets navigated around an apparent traffic control error that initially had one cleared to depart from Syracuse Hancock International Airport at the same the other was cleared to land on the same runway.
Audio of Air Traffic Control's communication with the pilots on both flights indicates that the controller initially gave a green light for landing to American Eagle Flight 5511, a Bombardier CRJ-700 jet operated by PSA Airlines, a regional branch of American Airlines. The controller then gave another go-ahead for departure from runway 28 — the same runway designated for the American plane — to Delta Connection 5421, another CRJ-700 operated by Endeavor Air, which is a regional branch of Delta.
At that point, a pilot on the American flight was heard in the audio, asking, "Wait, who's cleared to take off on 28?"
Traffic control responded to the American pilot with instructions to abort the landing and "go around," which the pilot followed. But flight radar data showed that the plane, while climbing to an altitude of around 1,825 feet, continued on a path that ultimately led it over the runway from which the Delta flight was taking off. As the Delta plane left the ground and itself climbed upward, there was a moment when it flew beneath the American plane flying 725 feet above.
