Feds Investigating After Planes Nearly Collide Over Houston

Federal investigators are investigating how two planes nearly collided during takeoff from Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration told local news outlet KHOU.

The near-miss happened on May 9 when two United Airlines flights came within 400 feet of one another while leaving the airport. The FAA has just begun its investigation, but KHOU said based on tower recordings that an air traffic controller’s quickly-corrected error was to blame.

Each flight was carrying approximately 150 passengers at the time of the near-miss.

The Houston incident is the second such event involving United Airlines flights in the past few weeks. On April 22, a pair of aircraft taking off and landing at the same time at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport came within 200 lateral feet of one another.

[KHOU]