Cargo plane and passenger plane passed with 100 feet.
MINNEAPOLIS — Federal regulators said Thursday they are investigating a near-collision of a US Airways jet and a small cargo plane that came within 50 to 100 feet of each other over Minneapolis just after takeoff. Air control radio traffic showed the cargo pilot failed to turn as directed.
The pilots of the two planes never saw each other as they passed in cloud cover at about 1,500 feet on Sept. 16, although the US Airways captain said he heard the cargo plane go by, the National Transportation Safety Board said. No one was injured and there was no damage.
US Airways Flight 1848, an Airbus 320, took off from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for Philadelphia with 90 passengers and five crew members shortly before 7 a.m. on Sept. 16. A twin-engine Beech 99 turboprop operated by Bemidji Aviation Services took off on a parallel runway on the left at about the same time.
The NTSB said the tower then instructed the US Airways crew to turn left, which caused it to cross paths about a half-mile past the end of the runway with the cargo plane, which had only the pilot aboard and was bound for La Crosse, Wis. A collision might have dropped wreckage on residential areas and busy freeways.
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