A320 misses Westjet 737 by 50 feet. . . .
they gotta start paying attention out there . . .
Wish they were called what they really are: near hits. A near miss would seem to indicate they almost missed but actually hit each other. A near hit would indicate that they almost hit each other.
I hear that a lot, but I disagree.
No one says they nearly missed, they say there was a near miss. In other words, they missed, but it was quite near.
A near hit is a hit that occurs quite near; it’s not the same thing.
“near miss” = “narrow avoidance” ≠ “narrow collision” = “near hit”
In your words “near miss” equals “almost missed” but it doesn’t. “nearLY missed” equals “almost missed.” Near and Nearly are not the same thing.
I know it’s just a battle of symantics, but I think it’s stupid.
This FAA spokesman doesn’t know what he is talking about. Ian use to be a reporter for the Daily Breeze in Torrance I believe. After giving the FAA a lot of grief over the years, what does the FAA do? They hire him to be their spokesman.
What actually happened was Westjet landed on Rwy 24R, and contacted Ground Control as he was about to cross RWY 24L. As Westjet crossed the holdshort lines for 24L, they stopped short of the departing Airbus. Anyone that flies into LAX knows it is routine for the Local Controller to cross the arriving aircraft and then tell the aircraft to Contact Ground .65 or hold short of runway 24L (and get an acknowledgment). When Ground gets the aircraft after landing, it is understood that the aircraft has his crossing approval from Local and that is why the aircraft is on his frequency.
Westjet never got approval to cross, hence the “Runway Incursion”.
Ian, the FAA spokesman says: “When the pilot then notified the ground traffic controller that the plane was approaching the gate, the ground controller cleared him without checking first with the air traffic controller.”
First of all, the pilot was not approaching the gate, the pilot was about to cross a runway! Secondly, Ground doesn’t check first with the air traffic controller (he is an air traffic controller) and it’s not Ground’s job to cross anyone/anytime. This is always done on Tower freq. The FAA makes it seem that the ground traffic controller was at fault, and this appropriately is not the FAA’s fault, but the controller’s.
The FAA has been dealing with how to reduce Runway Incursions for over ten years now, and this doesn’t look good for them to have another close call, near miss, near hit, etc. So FAA puts Ian up there and says, lets blame ATC! Yeah!!!
Its a little bit of the ground controller’s fault ( a little bit, I said). He should have confirmed the aircraft’s position. (7110.65 para 3-1-7) In the ground controller’s defense, however, is how busy they may have been at the time, etc., and, what a weird thing it was for the Westjet to switch to ground after he turned off 24R.
Was he switched by the local controller, or did Westjet switch all by himself? If he switched by himself, then the ground controller, if he was a bit busy, would just figure he was clear of the 24L (or cleared across) and just taxi Westjet to the gate. Yes, ground should have looked, but…if Westjet switched by himself, then he definitely helped lead Ground Control down the primrose path.
Macgregor has been a laughable tool of the FAA. From the blog FAA Follies, here is his latest comical quote:
From the North County Times, a San Diego area newspaper:
SAN DIEGO A tuberculosis scare at a Miramar facility that guides commercial and private airplane traffic for Lindbergh Field and two dozen Southern California airports wont affect local flights or safety, federal aviation officials said Wednesday.
County public health officials said Tuesday that a janitor at the Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control facility near the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station tested positive for tuberculosis.
Federal Aviation Administration officials said they have tested 65 of the 67 children at the day-care center adjacent to the control facility and planned to test all 400-plus workers at the facility. Spokesman Ian Gregor said that the agency was doing everything it could to make sure that workers at the facility are healthy.
** He also said that if air controllers got sick, the agency could reduce air-traffic volume and still operate at full capacity by increasing the distance between planes.**
This is a comically funny quote. “We will increase spacing slow down the traffic, but the system will still be operating at full capacity”.