Mattydale, N.Y. — Two commuter airplanes came so close to each other near Syracuse Hancock International Airport this week that one pilot took evasive action and a mid-air collision warning sounded.
The automated alarm in the cockpit of American Flight 5511 warned that another plane, Delta Flight 5421, was getting very close, according to audio recordings of radio traffic. The alarm typically rings about 20 seconds before a potential collision.
Air traffic controllers had directed the American flight to pull up quickly from its landing because they had cleared the Delta flight to take off on the same runway. The two planes came within about 600 feet of each other in the air, according to an analysis of flight-tracking data.
The dramatic scene Monday morning was captured by happenstance on a dashboard camera in a North Syracuse police car.
Both planes later made it safely to their destinations. No one was hurt.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that it will investigate the incident.
Delta will cooperate with the inquiry, a spokesperson said. American Airlines did not respond to a request for comment.
Around noon Monday, planes at the Syracuse airport were using Runway 28. It is the longest at the airport, measuring more than 9,000 feet. Arrivals generally come in from the east, and departures takeoff to the west.
The American flight, arriving from Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., was cleared to land on the runway around 11:48 a.m., according to an audio recording on LiveATC.net, a website that posts live and archived recordings of radio transmissions. It was passing over Manlius and making its final approach to the airport.
But an air traffic controller told the departing Delta flight around 11:51 a.m. it was cleared to take off from the same runway. The arriving American flight was about a mile or so east of the airport at that point.
A pilot from a different flight quickly interjected.
“Wait, who’s cleared for takeoff on 28?” the pilot asked.
An air traffic controller then directed the American flight to “go around.” Less than a thousand feet off the ground, the pilots needed to stop their landing attempt and quickly gain altitude. They would circle back for another attempt at landing.
Not too far below, the Delta flight continued rolling down the runway and lifted off.
The two commuter planes came within around 600 feet of each other near the western edge of the runway, just south of the Northern Lights shopping plaza, according to data from the flight tracking website Flightradar24. That’s about the length of two football fields.
The gap was so small that an automated “resolution advisory” briefly went off in the American flight’s cockpit, alerting them to a potential collision.
“Responding to an RA. Oop, now we’re clear,” one of the pilots on the American flight told air traffic controllers.
The potential danger was short lived.
The departing Delta flight kept heading west before making a hook to the south toward New York City, while the arriving American flight made a tighter turn to loop back to the airport.
The American flight landed safely in Syracuse about 10 minutes later at 12 p.m.
The Delta flight made it to LaGuardia Airport in New York City just before 12:45 p.m., touching down 16 minutes ahead of schedule.
Staff writer Jon Moss covers breaking news, crime and public safety. He can be reached at [email protected] or @mossjon7.