FAA boss blames spate of runway near collisions on 'pressures in the system' after pandemic

The boss of the FAA has blamed a spate of runway near collisions on 'pressures in the system' amid a post-pandemic surge in air travel.

Acting Administrator Billy Nolen also revealed that there had been another near miss between two jets cleared for takeoff at Ronald Reagan airport on March 7, bringing the total number this year to seven.

Compared to an average of between four and ten 'serious runway events' a year over the last decade, Nolen admitted that recent months have produced more dangerous incidents 'than you'd expect to see.'

'We're coming out of the backside of this pandemic,' he told NBC News. 'And ... truly we're seeing pent up demand for flying. Flying has come back with a vengeance, so to speak.' 

Nolen said that 'aggressive' hiring efforts had been unable to keep pace with the increased numbers of flights which have created 'some pressures in the system.'  

Billy Nolen has insisted it is safe to fly, despite the multitude of headlines about recent near collision, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced they'll be holding an impromptu safety summit on Wednesday to address regulations

The FAA chief announced the organization would be holding an impromptu safety summit on Wednesday to address regulations. 

As airlines see record profits, Nolen said industry chiefs needed to commit to schedules that 'match their capability and demands of the market.'

However, he insisted that flying remains 'very safe' as he noted there had not been a seriously fatal incident since 2009 when Colgan Air Flight 3407 went down en route to Buffalo, NY, killing all 49 passengers and crew. 

FAA data show there have been fewer overall near-miss incidents over the past six months than in the same periods prior. 

Despite the safety record, many passengers traveling on US airlines have been shocked by the number of planes grounded or diverted over runway mishaps.

In the latest shock, on March 7, Republic Airlines flight 4736 nearly collided with United Airlines Flight 2003 after it crossed a runway without clearance at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. 

It had been cleared to cross another runway, but the pilot took a wrong turn.  

The United flight had been cleared for takeoff, but one lucky air traffic controller noticed Republic's mishap just in time and canceled the former's takeoff. 

'United 2003 cancel takeoff clearance,' the controller said. 'Aborting takeoff, aborting takeoff United 2003.' 

It comes after an American Airlines flight nearly slammed into a Delta plane at JFK, and a landing FedEx cargo plane narrowly avoided a Southwest plane preparing to takeoff. 

Nolen told NBC it was important to hold a summit to address the incidents over the last few months.

'Let's stop, let's reflect, let's ask ourselves the question: Are we missing anything?'

'And remind ourselves that we can always, always, never become complacent and never take this incredible safety record for granted,' he said.

A Cessna pilot video his experience in August 2022 where he narrowly missed a Delta plane (pictured) who had been ordered to take off while he was nearby. The summit on Wednesday will address the recent increase in near collisions 

It comes after the pilot behind the Miracle on the Hudson warned earlier this month that US airports 'are the canaries in the coal mine.' 

'We've lost a lot of our flying and the recovery from Covid has been more rapid than many expected - so we've been caught short in many important ways and in staffing,' Sullenberger told the Today Show.

'The staffing issue would benefit from secure, multi-year funding so that we could anticipate ... we could recruit, hire and train air traffic controllers and maintenance technicians and others and get them in place before we need them and not be playing catch up.'

One of the reasons air traffic seems so complicated recently is the uptick in flights and demand as the mode of transportation has skyrocketed back from pandemic days.

Although still under pre-pandemic levels, demand has risen, causing problems both in the air and on the ground from canceled flights, angry customers, to near collisions. 

'We want to make sure as we look not only today but into into the summer and into the future that we've got that happening,' Nolen said. 'We have the safest most complex Airspace System in the world and it is very safe.' 

The near collision at JFK in New York could have killed 418 people if fast-acting Delta pilot hadn't saved the day 

On January 13, a Delta flight was traveling at 115mph down the runway when an American Airlines crossed the wrong runway, directly leading to the Delta flight's takeoff. 

Air Traffic Control had told the American Airlines flight to cross 'runway 31L at Kilo' but instead crossed runway 4 Left at Juliet, crossing directly in front of the departing Delta flight. 

The Delta pilot was forced to abruptly brake, traveling another 661 feet before he came to a complete stop with just 1,000 feet to spare before the plane would have T-boned the American Airlines Boeing 777, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a preliminary statement.

On January 13, a Delta flight was traveling at 115mph down the runway when an American Airlines crossed the wrong runway , directly leading to the Delta flight's takeoff

It was then forced to return to the gate, and did not takeoff again until the next morning, while the American Airlines flight arrived in the UK on time.

The Delta pilot remained cool, calm and collected, telling the air traffic controller: 'Yeah, we're gonna have to go somewhere, run a couple of checklists and probably make some phone calls for Delta 1943.' 

The plane eventually went back to the gate and did not take off until the next morning. 

A FedEx cargo plane narrowly missed a Southwest plane by 100 feet, risking 128 lives

A FedEx airplane came within less than 100 feet of a Southwest commercial flight with 128 people on board during a terrifying near miss in Austin in early February

A FedEx airplane came within less than 100 feet of a Southwest commercial flight with 128 people on board during a terrifying near miss in Austin in early February. 

Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, explained just how close the planes were to catastrophe and said investigators are probing how the incident was able to happen.

The Boeing 767 was approaching the runway with poor visibility while a Southwest Boeing 737 was cleared for takeoff.

The FedEx flight was several miles from the airport when it was cleared to land, according to the FAA.

But as it was about to touch down, an air traffic controller also gave the go-ahead for the Southwest Boeing 737 to take off on the exact same stretch of tarmac.

The Southwest flight to Cancun, Mexico still continued its takeoff even while the FedEx cargo plane was directly above it.

The Southwest jet was able to depart safely, according to the FAA. 

FedEx said its flight 'safely landed after encountering an event,' but declined to comment further at the time. 

Two Alaska Airlines plane nearly collide on a Seattle runway during takeoff because of a computer glitch 

The two Alaska Airlines scraped their tails on the tarmac of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in January after software update told pilots the aircrafts were 20,000 pounds lighter

In January, two Alaska Airlines planes scraped their tails on the tarmac of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as they took off, due to a software bug that left the pilots thinking their aircrafts were 20,000 pounds lighter.

The planes took off six minutes apart on January 26, and at no point made physical contact with each other.

The issue was deemed serious enough for Alaska Airlines to initiate a nationwide stoppage of all aircraft in the immediate aftermath, according to the Seattle Times.

A spokesperson for Alaska Airlines confirmed to DailyMail.com that the incident did occur and the grounding lasted for around 20 minutes.

'The tail touches were caused by a vendor software update that mistakenly installed code resulting in inaccurate take-off performance weight data for a small subset of our flights,' they said.

The first flight, Alaska Flight 801, a 737 Max9, departed Seattle at 8.48am bound for Kona, Hawaii. The captain made the decision to bring the plane back to the airport after the scraping, landing safely at 9.26am.

The second plane, Alaska Flight 887, a 737-900ER, departed Seattle headed for Honolulu at 8.54am, but after also suffering the scraping, the captain made the decision to bring that plane back to the airport, landing at 9.45am.

The Times report says that the Alaska Airlines planes use a Swedish software brand named DynamicSource to determine how much power needs to be used for take off, based on the weight of the plane.

That morning, DynamicSource had undergone a software update that caused a bug, meaning that the pilots believed the planes were 20,000 to 30,000 pounds lighter than they actually were.

The result was that both pilots ended up using less power than required to take off and both rotated too early.

Of the 727 Alaska flights that took off that day, only 30 had incorrect data and only two scraped their tails.

A Mesa flight was forced to abort landing after an American Airlines plane was green-lit for takeoff  

A Mesa Airlines flight was forced to abort its landing at the last minute this week as it approached Hollywood Burbank Airport after a SkyWest plane was given the green light to take off

A Mesa Airlines flight was forced to abort its landing at the last minute this week as it approached Hollywood Burbank Airport, in the latest near miss between American airplanes in late February. 

Flight number CRJ900 was forced to begin ascending again within a mile of the airport, after a SkyWest plane was given the green light to take off at the same time, with the close call coming at around 7pm Wednesday. 

The pilot of the Mesa Airlines jet successfully aborted the landing just minutes from the runway, while air traffic control allowed SkyWest aircraft E175 to take off unimpeded. 

A Cessna plane had to divert its course mid-air after a Delta plane nearly smashed into it after takeoff

The close call transpired in August 2022 as lines picked up ahead of the busy Labor Day weekend, and saw the much smaller Cessna come within about 500 feet vertically and 1500 feet horizontally of the filled passenger jet, which had been taking off from Orlando International.

The video, filmed from inside the Cessna, shows the quick-thinking pilot's admirable reaction to the crisis, which saw him take quick, evasive action by ascending over the rapidly climbing aircraft - avoiding an almost certain collision by a matter of feet.

The pilot, Malik Clarke, recalled the frightening encounter in a recent interview with ABC News, detailing how he was forced to take 'evasive action' to avoid the much larger, passenger-packed plane - an incident currently being probed by the FAA.

Cessna come within about 500 feet vertically and 1500 feet horizontally of the filled passenger jet , which had been taking off from Orlando International in August 2022

'I knew that this didn't look right,' Clarke told the news station of the near miss, remembering how he noticed the plane rapidly ascending through the air towards his aircraft on August 17.  

'So immediately,' Clarke continued, 'I turned right and I climbed as steeply as I could - because the Boeing 757 from Delta has a much higher climb rate than the aircraft that I was flying.' 

Clarke's quick-thinking apparently paid off, with both planes narrowly avoiding an impact - that more than likely would have proved fatal for all the pilots involved as well as the plane's passengers.  

'If I hadn't done that evasive maneuver, it's quite likely there would have been a midair collision,' Clarke conceded to the outlet.