Near miss in mid-air

Press, 12 January 1987, Page 6

Near miss in mid-air

NZPA staff correspondent >- Washington An Air New Zealand Boeing 747 aircraft went within five miles of a T.W.A. aircraft off the coast of Los Angeles earlier this month. At the time the two aircraft should have been 100 miles or 2000 ft of altitude apart While not classed as a near miss, the incident on January 1 is regarded as an “operational error” according to local reports in Los Angeles which have just exposed what happened. The incident happened at 2.28 p.m. in clear visibility off the coast of

California, the reports say. The Air New Zealand aircraft was heading to Los Angeles from Auckland while the T.W.A. aircraft was en route from St Louis to Honolulu. The incident is believed to have happened as the two aircraft were being passed from one air traffic control area to another. “We are aware of the incident but there was never any formal report written about it,” said an Air New Zealand spokeswoman in Los Angeles. Officials of the United States Federal Aviation Administration could not be reached for comment