U.S. & World

WASHINGTON (CBS) ― Just one day after air traffic controllers declared a staffing emergency in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and Southern California, two airplanes nearly collided on the runway at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The incident occurred Friday when investigators believe an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight bound for Greensboro, N.C., ignored orders from the control tower to stop its taxi across the runway, coming within seconds of running into a Mexico-bound Delta Air Lines Inc. jet, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

The ASA pilot acknowledged the orders and repeated them back to controllers in the tower but did not stop, Bergen said.

A day earlier, a staffing emergency was issued in Atlanta by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association due to a major drop in the number of fully certified controllers on staff, leading to an astounding number of errors and runway incursions.

In fact, just last year, the General Accountability Office said there were 11 controller errors at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, and 30 runway incursions over the past four years.

NATCA says it lost 10 percent of its workforce in 2007 and is on pace for a record number of losses in 2008, causing two government watchdogs to take notice. According to NATCA, a "staffing emergency means that controllers do not have enough trained and experienced personnel on the ground to safely handle the volume of traffic in the air and at major airports."

In New York, the most crucial drop was reported at the John F. Kennedy Airport Tower where the number of fully trained controllers has fallen 42 percent since 2001, despite a 40 percent increase in air traffic. NATCA said the tower has just 22 certified controllers on staff in 2008 and eight will retire by the end of the year, with another four becoming eligible for retirement.

"An already dangerous situation is about to get worse," NATCA President Patrick Forrey said in a statement. "An additional 2,200 experienced controllers will be able to retire by the end of this year, thinning the already-depleted ranks of the workforce at a time when the skies have never been more congested."

Age appears to be a giant issue among air controllers. NATCA projected 500 controllers will retire by Feb. 3 this year, and an additional 2,200 will follow suit by year's end. Many of those who intend to retire said they plan to do so "due to the lack of any incentive to stay on the job," according to NATCA.

The current record of controllers who have retired in a year, set just one year ago, is 856. If NATCA's projections are correct, the number of retirees in fiscal 2008 would blow away that number.

The news comes at a time when it appears there are increasing amounts of near-misses and close calls at airports, along with long taxi and takeoff lines and delays. Forrey said a depleted staff would increase the risk for error and potentially catastrophic accidents.

"The [General Accountability Office] has already stated that the risk of a catastrophic accident on our runways around the nation is high. Without an adequate amount of rested, well-trained controllers in towers and radar facilities, the risk of an aviation accident now includes the airspace as well as the ground," he said.

Last month, Sen. Charles Schumer blasted the Federal Aviation Administration after a commuter jet coming in for landing at JFK nearly collided with a 747 cargo jet on the ground.

Schumer said the number of near-misses at New York's three major airports have doubled since 2003, and demanded the FAA install new technology in all three airports that would help prevent future close calls from occurring.

Forrey is also calling on the FAA and the Department of Transportation to help quell the air controller crisis, hoping they can provide additional staff to the four areas affected by the emergency.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)