Loading ...Confusion between two planes’ flight numbers has been cited as the reason for a near collision by two Federal Express jets at Memphis International Airport last week. The announcement comes as the investigation into what caused the incident is still underway. So far, the Federal Aviation Administration is classifying the occurrence as a serious error on the part of air traffic control.
There are different stories coming form two sides, however, with the air traffic controllers’ union blaming the mistake on forced overtime and short staffing, while the FAA disagrees, with spokesperson Kathleen Bergen stating, “We have never found fatigue to be an issue in any of the errors that have occurred at Memphis.”
Bergen reported that the error occurred due to the two planes flight numbers, 257 and 527, which caused one of them to take a wrong turn and come far closer to the other plane than the legal limit of 1,000 feet.
According to Bergen, the incident began with one pilot tuning into the wrong radio frequency “and accepting instructions intended for another aircraft, ahe controller didn’t recognize the error on read-back”.