Sky Jams

NASA advises pilots: Look out!

The collision of a Boeing 727 and a tiny Cessna over San Diego that killed 144 last September raised a disturbing question: How often do planes come harrowingly close to each other in the crowded U.S. skies? In an unpublished report now being circulated among Government and industry aviation experts for comment, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration supplies some answers, and they are not reassuring.

Between July 1, 1976, and Nov. 30, 1978, NASA collected 2,856 confidential reports from pilots describing near mid-air collisions, 65% of them in the vicinity of airports. That comes to 11.9 near misses for each million flights, or four times the rate that the Federal Aviation Administration estimates. One reason for the higher figure: pilots may be more willing to report near misses to NASA because the agency grants them anonymity, which the FAA does not.

Near miss rates varied widely among airports, from 94 per million flights at Sacramento, Calif, to zero at many secondary city fields. Among the 23 busiest commercial terminals, John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City had the highest rate, 49 per million flights; Kansas City, Mo., the lowest, 9.* NASA found the highest near crash rates to be in areas where pilots fly under the direction of ground controllers who use sophisticated radar equipment.

Representatives of private pilots saw the report as evidence that the FAA is wrong in trying to require more elaborate ground control at an additional 44 airports, which would force pilots of small planes to install costly equipment if they used those fields. Actually, no plane could take off or land safely at a crowded airport without this gear. NASA'S own interpretation is that pilots are relying too heavily on ground radar to give them a precise reading on all planes in their area, which it cannot do, and are not depending enough on their eyes. Charles Spence, spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, agrees. Says he: "If the airspace is totally under the control of the air traffic controller, there is a tremendous sense that Big Brother is watching on radar and that the pilot doesn't really have to look out the window."

The problem for pilots is that as they approach major airports, they must concentrate on the controllers' signals, diverting their visual attention from the skies. Concludes the report, in a considerable understatement: "A way must be found to resolve this very real dilemma."

* The worst after J.F.K.: Newark, 34; Philadelphia, 33; Cleveland, 32; Los Angeles, 29; Atlanta and Pittsburgh, tied for sixth at 27; La Guardia, eighth at 25.

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