FAA Probes Close Call Between Delta, United Flights Over Phoenix

The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation after a near miss involving two commercial airliners near Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport on a recent Saturday.

During the incident, Delta Flight 1070, arriving from Detroit with 245 travelers on an Airbus A330, and United Flight 1724, inbound from San Francisco with 129 people on a Boeing 737, faced a potential collision. Both aircraft were granted clearance to land around 11 a.m. local time.

Preliminary information from Flightradar24 indicates that the planes were separated by only 425 feet vertically and moments later, less than a quarter of a mile horizontally.

Air traffic control promptly directed both flights with new instructions, allowing them to land safely.

Recordings reveal a controller gave the United flight clearance for Runway 7 right while instructing the Delta flight to align for Runway 8. It was during this time that a collision alarm activated in the cockpit, with alerts to "descend" audibly heard.

Increase in Near-Miss Incidents

The recent event at Phoenix is part of a worrying trend of close encounters. Earlier, in January, a risky situation unfolded at Chicago's O'Hare Airport and another occurred in April on the runway at Reagan National Airport.