Near Collision at Bush Airport: Two Commercial Jets Miss Disaster

Near Miss Incident at Bush Airport

• ✈️ A near-collision between two commercial flights occurred at Bush Intercontinental Airport on December 18th.
• ⚠️ The incident involved a Commute Air flight (operating as United Express) and an AIS flight based in Mexico.

Sequence of Events

• 🎯 Air traffic control instructed one flight to turn left, but the pilots mistakenly turned right, heading towards a parallel runway where another plane had just departed.
• 📉 Data indicates the aircraft came within 700 ft laterally and 150 ft vertically of each other.

Expert Analysis and Safety Systems

• 🧑‍✈️ Aviation expert Josh Verie described the event as a very close call, emphasizing that it was a human error and not indicative of airline or pilot unreliability.
• 💡 The Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is credited with being crucial in warning pilots of the potential collision hazard.
• 💥 The worst-case scenario, according to Verie, would have been the collision of two packed airliners at low altitude, resulting in fatalities on both planes.

Airline Statements

• ✅ Commute Air stated that its crew followed the directions of air traffic controllers.
• ❓ A response from AIS was still pending at the time of reporting.