Two American Airlines flights, both operating as American 2482, narrowly avoided a mid-air collision early Friday morning when a Phoenix air traffic controller recognized the duplication and took immediate action. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and American Airlines have launched investigations into the dispatch error.
Controller prevents disaster
Audio of the incident, shortly after midnight on Friday (August 14), captured the controller adapting to prevent confusion, referring to the jets as "American 2482 on the arrival" and "American 2482 on the departure." One plane was arriving from Chicago, Illinois, while the other had just taken off in Phoenix, Arizona.
"I've been working air traffic for 25 years. I've never seen two aircraft pretty much merge with the same call sign. That's pretty incredible," the controller admitted after the departing plane safely cleared the airspace.
Safety measures taken
To prevent a mid-air disaster, the controller held the arriving plane safely above the departing one as their flight paths converged. He instructed the departing jet to cap its climb altitude to maintain a vital vertical buffer, and ensured that both flight crews visually identified each other while they were still miles apart.
Once the planes safely passed one another, the arriving pilot commended the controller for his "nice work." "It could have been disastrous, but I'm glad it worked out," the controller replied.
Cause of the error
Flight 2482 is a round-trip route that often flies back and forth between Chicago and Phoenix. Typically, the same plane goes back and forth, but the flight out of Chicago was delayed due to weather, so American found a second plane in Phoenix, and that flight departed on time. The result was that both planes briefly shared the same airspace before the arriving flight landed.
According to PBS, aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said it was likely that someone inside the airline's dispatch centre failed to realise that both planes would be in the air at the same time with identical flight numbers, even after both the dispatcher and the pilots had signed off on the flight plan. "You can drop the ball, and that shouldn't happen, but it's nice to see that the system is resilient and we have all the safeguards," the dispatcher-turned-pilot said, who added he had only seen this type of issue a couple of times in his four decades with United Airlines.
"The diligence and professionalism of air traffic controllers and our pilots ensured required separation was always maintained and the issue was identified and addressed. Both flights continued safely and without incident," American Airlines said in a statement.
