'Close Calls' With Airplane Safety Are 'On the Rise,' National Transportation Safety Board Chair SaysThere have been several high-profile incidents of late where planes have come in close range of each other.
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“千钧一发”航空事故的数量has been on the rise of late, a federal officialconfirmedon ABC this week.
A "close call" is a safety issue that warrants further review but did not result in any harm to anyone — this term also applies in industries fromrailroadstomedicine. A "near miss," however (a term oftenlinkedto "close call"), is when planes come closer to each other (horizontally or vertically) than what is considered safety standard: 1 to 5 miles or 1,000 feet, retired US Airways pilot, Capt. John Cox, wrote inUSA Today.
Close calls in aviation "are on the rise,"National Transportation Safety Board Chair (NTSB) Jennifer Homendy told the network. "The FAA needs to take action," she added, referring to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAAregulatesaviation in the U.S. The agency has alreadyfacedcongressional scrutiny after the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) system was down in early January, grounding flights across the country. The NTSBfocuses on investigating safety incidentsin transportation sectors from aviation to railroads. It isinvolvedin looking into the car derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, whichreleasedtoxic chemicals into the air.
Homendy's comments come in the wake of several dramatic "close calls"at airports.
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines planes came within 1,000 feet of each other when the Delta plane was attempting to take off from JFK airport in New York City in mid-January, an incident which is nowunder investigationby the NTSB and FAA.
There was also a "close call" at Boston's Logan airport in late Februarywhen a plane took off without clearance and its flight pathintersectedwith a plane that was set to land on the runway.
这也是和er investigation. There have been five similar incidents since the start of the year that are under review by authorities,according to CNN.
The FAA is holding a "Safety Summit" on Wednesday "to examine what additional actions the aviation community needs to take to maintain our safety record," per a memo by Acting Administrator (the nominee has not yet been confirmed by the Senate) Billy Nolen last month.
"Now is the time to stare into the data and ask hard questions," he added.
Homendy also told ABC that the U.S. still has "the safest aviation system in the world," though the NTSB is "very concerned" about the rise in incidents.
Related:Thousands Of U.S. Flights Paused Due to FAA Systems Outage
ABC anchor Martha Raddatz asked Homendy if the airline industry was being driven "too hard" after the difficulties caused by the pandemic (including cratering then soaring demand).
"I think it's a difficult time for the aviation industry," Homendy told the network.
"I think, you know, we saw a lot of layoffs. We saw a lot of employees retire, we have new employees coming on that are being trained. We have drones coming online, air taxis, so it's a difficult time and it's really a transitional time for the aviation industry," she added.
Airlines did lay off, furlough, andbuyoutpeopleen massewhen the pandemic hit, only to then face astaffing shortagewhen demand returned. Per Bloomberg'scalculationsas of July 2020, for example, around 400,000 workers were cut, furloughed, or informed they could lose their jobs.
