A 10-foot near miss at Lehigh airport
The crew of a jetliner roaring down the runway expertly dodged a light plane, officials reported.
ALLENTOWN - An airliner preparing for takeoff Friday night came within 10 feet of crashing into a light plane on a runway at Lehigh Valley International Airport, averting a collision only because of the extraordinary airmanship of an alert flight crew, airport and federal officials said yesterday.
The pilot of United Express Flight 7138 had to brake and swerve to avoid hitting a Cessna four-seat propeller plane, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
The Chicago-bound jetliner was going about 140 m.p.h. when the flight crew spotted the smaller plane ahead of it and aborted takeoff. Officials said the Cessna had just landed on the same runway but missed its exit, leaving it exposed to the jet.
There were no injuries reported among the 60 passengers aboard the jet or to those aboard the Cessna. NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said he didn't know the name of the Cessna's pilot or how many were aboard.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said that a trainee in the airport's control tower mistakenly thought the Cessna had left the runway and cleared the United Express flight for takeoff.
The union, which has complained that the Federal Aviation Administration has too many trainees at air-traffic control facilities, said in a statement that 11 of the 31 controllers at the Lehigh Valley airport were trainees.
The United Express airliner did not appear to sustain any damage from the near-miss and taxied back to the airport under its own power, Knudson said. The flight was rescheduled for Saturday morning.
According to Federal Aviation Administration records, the Cessna is registered to 156 Midland Ave. Inc. of Kinnelon, N.J. A man who answered the phone at a listing for 156 Midland Ave Inc. said he had no comment.
The United plane was operated by Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group Inc. A Mesa spokesman referred questions to United Airlines spokesman Jeff Kovick, who said United was cooperating with Mesa and federal authorities.
