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NTSB INVESTIGATING NEAR COLLISION OF JETLINER AND SMALL
PLANE OVER AIRPORT IN CALIFORNIA
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The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an
investigation into the near collision of a commercial
jetliner and a small private plane at the intersection of
two active runways at Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport in Southern
California.
At about 10:58 a.m. PDT on April 19, Southwest Airlines
flight 649, a Boeing 737-700 (N473WN) inbound from Oakland,
carrying 119 passengers and a crew of five was landing on
runway 8 while a Cessna 172, in the departure phase of a
“touch and go” on runway 15, passed over the 737. A “touch
and go” is a practice maneuver in which an aircraft briefly
lands on the runway before accelerating and becoming
airborne again.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the
airplanes came within 200 feet vertically and 10 feet
laterally of each other at the runway intersection. No one
was injured in the incident, which occurred under a clear
sky with visibility of 10 miles.
NTSB investigator Betty Koschig, an air traffic control
specialist based in Washington, is traveling to Burbank
today to begin the investigation.
Improving runway safety has been on the NTSB's Most Wanted
List of Safety Improvements since 1990:
NTSB - Most Wanted
Any more perspective? Sooner or (preferably much) later one of these incidents is going to go wrong.
- GY