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Schumer Demands FAA Action After Close Call At JFK

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Dec 11, 2007 6:54 pm US/Eastern

Schumer Demands FAA Action After Close Call At JFK

Number Of Near-Misses At NYC Airports Doubled Since 2003

Reporting
Magee Hickey

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Sen. Chuck Schumer called for New York's major airports to have new technology installed to prevent near-misses from happening in the future.
CBS

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Sen. Charles Schumer plans to approach the Federal Aviation Administration and demand new technology be installed in New York's three major airports that will help prevent runway collisions and near-misses after a commuter jet nearly collided with a Boeing 747 cargo jet Sunday afternoon at John F. Kennedy airport.

In this latest mishap, air traffic controllers said the cargo jet, which was supposed to land on a perpendicular runway instead continued across the smaller jet's path.

The FAA said the two pilots were aware of each other and able to see each other, so officially this was not a near-miss.

Still, the close call irked Schumer, who didn't seem to care that "officially" it wasn't a near-miss.

"When an air traffic controller of 25 years says this is the closest that he's ever seen two planes come to each other, what else do you call it?" he said.

Schumer wants New York area airports to get the new high tech systems that some other airports in the nation already have. He says they should install them now, years ahead of schedule. "What are we waiting for? A collision where hundreds of people are killed?" he asked.

Schumer said that since 2003, the number of near-misses at area airports have doubled.

"The new technology, it's in the control towers and it allows the air traffic controllers to see everything on the ground superimposed on the runway and furthermore the computers can tell in advance whether the two planes might collide and get too close," Schumer said.

Sunday's near miss, and another at Newark Liberty International Airport on Thursday, according to Schumer, are wake-up calls. He plans to approach the FAA sometime next week demanding the upgrade in technology.

CBS 2's Dave Carlin contributed to this report.

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