The NTSB is investigating a “close call” between an Alaska Airlines 737 and a FedEx 777 landing at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday evening. The flights had been cleared to land on intersecting runways when it became apparent to the air traffic controller that the Alaska 737 would not land behind the FedEx 777 as planned. The controller instructed the Alaska flight to go around, with the flight at 300 feet and climbing as it passed over the FedEx flight on the intersecting runway. The Alaska Airlines flight landed safely on its second approach.
FedEx flight FX721, a Boeing 777F arriving from Memphis, was cleared to land on Runway 29. Alaska Airlines flight AS294 from Portland was cleared to land on Runway 22L, which intersects with Runway 29. Planned sequencing indicated by air traffic control audio was for the FedEx flight to land ahead of the Alaska flight. ATC cautioned the FedEx flight of the approaching 737 and informed the crew it would land behind them.
During the approach, it became evident that the Alaska Airlines flight would not, in fact, land behind the FedEx 777 with an acceptable safety margin and the Newark tower controller instructed the Alaska flight to “go around.”
Based on granular ADS-B data received and processed by Flightradar24, the Alaska flight arrested its descent as it passed over I-78 and began to climb shortly after. According to the barometric altitude reported by the aircraft as part of the ADS-B data, the Alaska 737 passed above the FedEx aircraft as it climbed from 300 to 325 feet. Investigators will be able to use data from the aircraft’s radar altimeter to make a more precise determination of the height at which the two aircraft crossed.
21 Responses
Yikes 😳
the controller screwed up; the job of a controller is to maintain separation among aircraft they are working.
This is not a close call by any stretch of the imagination. When you’re running an intersecting runway operation and it’s not going to work, one of the aircraft gets a go-around. As long as everyone (the two aircraft and the controller) know what’s happening it’s not an issue. Obviously it would have been better had the aircraft passed one behind the other, but it didn’t work out.
The job of a controller is to maximize runway and airspace use. That’s what this controller was doing, it turned out it wasn’t going to work and he terminated the operation with the go-around of one of the aircraft.
To close though
I wonder what the speeds were as compared to the expected ?
So no pilot error here at all I would say. I just wonder, how much of a roll do computers play in separation? The ATC guy told the Alaska plane to do a go around. Did an alarm warn him or her? How about the pilots in both the Alaska plane and the FedEx plane, no warning from their systems? With such advanced software capabilities these days you would think both aircraft would have produced a warning early enough.
FR24. I have the gold subscription for a few years now and love it, FR24 does a amazing job with its info, details and emails. The only challenge I have is when selecting an aircraft and go to country of registration there is a flag there. as you many understand i do not know all 195 flags of the world. Is there an option to see the name of the country as well as the flag.
That is all, keep up the great work.
Not pertinent to the convo.
There was once talk of privatizing air traffic controllers. Considering the morons now in charge of the government and the resulting anxiety due to job insecurity, maybe it’s time to revisit that idea. Private firms would be contracted by the government just like it’s done with the national nuclear laboratories. Contracts would be for a fixed term and would be based on cost plus fee. The fee could be increased if the contractor did a good job, and decreased if they didn’t.
The primary goal of private companies is to maximise profits. The primary goal of ATC is Satfety as it should always be.
Isn’t runway 29 (6,725 ft) a little short for the FedEx 777? He must have been approaching at absolute minimum approach speed for most of his approach, resulting in Alaska coming in too soon.
It seems that the Faa should investigate their control tower and the control tower personnel who made the error.
We’re both ac on a visual approach? Did they have each other in site? Critical flight phase for both ac.
It seems at this point, that Air Traffic Control busted separation? Rwy 29 and approach end of Rwy 22L at night, not a safe scenerio in my opinion.
Synchronizing staggered landings on intersecting runways can be tricky, especially when different approach speeds are being used. The controller probably should have caught this earlier, but he/she obviously did the right thing by instructing one to go-around. Usually, a go-around is not particularly a big deal, but in cases like this I cringe to think about one being instructed to go-around, and the other deciding to go-around on his own for other reasons.
You failed to include a date when this happened.
unbelievable
This situation should never have happened . Blame is on the tower or approach control, not the pilots.
Pogrešno je instrukciju – uputu kontrolora zračnog prometa upućenu AS294 “go around” prevesti na hrvatski jezik “napravi krug”. Izraz “go around” je dio standardne ICAO frazeologije i korektan prijevod ove instrukcije na hrvatskom jeziku je “produžite”, nakon čega slijedi uputa kontrolora zračnog prometa o daljnjem postupanju dotičnog aviona. Fraza “produžite” je kao takva i zvanično prevedena i propisana od strane hrvatskih zrakoplovnih vlasti i sastavni je dio propisane ICAO zrakoplovne frazeologije na hrvatskom jeziku.
Instrukcija “go around” u pravilu naglašava hitnost situacije. Ovaj postupak mogu inicirati ili kontrolor zp ili pilot. Ukoliko to inicira pilot koristi frazu “going around” ili u prijevodu “produžavamo”. Naravno ovoj frazi prethodi pozivni znak aviona.
Treba razlikovati postupak go around od postupka neuspjelog prilaza ( missed approach procedure). Kada i kako se ovi postupci koriste drugom prilikom.
Con tutto questo traffico di aerei hanno avuto ancora fortuna .!
Un complimento all controllore di volo .
I flew gliders for 15 yrs, and before I went solo my instructor who was a retired F-111 pilot always drummed a saying into my head which was quote (complacency breads contempt)
if you’re not sure then double check.
The other saying was “aviate / navigate/ communicate. & situation awareness, and should one of these processes fail or you forget then complacency steps in and you as an experienced pilot may not even recognize it until it’s too late .
I believe one of the things that should be implemented as a requirement in all airports worldwide, until they are eventually eliminated, is intersecting runways. They are a constant danger. This practice is widespread in the United States and only leads to incidents like this one, which, fortunately, was resolved with a simple go-around. But how many accidents will occur when there isn’t enough time for timely warnings? Insane.