Another Near Collision In The Sky
BURNETT: Now to another scare in the skies, a near mid-air collision. Two airplanes a hair's breadth from a horrific crash. An Alaska Airlines 737 filled with 145 passengers and five crewmembers a quarter mile from a cargo plane seconds away. NTSB officials say air traffic control did not warn the planes. Alaska Airlines tells CNN the collision avoidance system alarm on the 737 is actually what saved those lives. OUTFRONT tonight, CNN aviation analyst, Mary Schiavo. Mary, I mean, this is a trend. This is the fifth incident we have reported on in the last month of a near miss of a mid-air collision passenger jets involved. What is going on?</s>MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, the Office of Inspector General, my old office has studied this many, many times. They found that several things are wrong. The air traffic control mistakes, mistakes made by the controllers themselves are on the dramatic increase. Now the FAA says it's just better reporting. But the inspector general found no, they don't actually report them as much as they should. They're increasing. There is a lack of adequate training. The training gets spread out over three years. They don't report the problems and they don't have good procedures in place, like this one, where they had to do a go-round and they both turned the same way. So they need to do all those things to correct it. And that is a very alarming statistic because they are rising.</s>BURNETT: How often is a go-around? And when you're a passenger on a plane, are you able to tell or feel when your plane is in a quote/unquote "near miss situation?" Suddenly you feel those engines surge. Your plane suddenly goes up or down. Can you tell?</s>SCHIAVO: You sure can. When you're coming in and they've got you all buckled up and the flight attendants are seated and you look out and see is the ground coming up, and all of the sudden you feel the engines roar and you're pushed back in your seat, that's a go-round. You have just been through a near miss. It happens dozens of times a day. Over 4,000 times a year.</s>BURNETT: It's incredibly terrifying. I think everyone watching can remember an incident of that happening to them. I mean, are you worried there could end up being a horrific crash? You're talking about near miss, near miss, near miss, but is it going to happen?</s>SCHIAVO: Well, yes. Unfortunately, when you see the statistics, and what we always want to watch in safety statistics is that they're headed in the right direction. These are headed in the wrong direction. They're increasing. Now, there have been so many saves by TCAS, the Traffic Collision Avoidance System. That miraculous piece of equipment is required on commercial passenger planes in the United States that is life-saving. But there are too many close calls. So we have to turn that around and the pilots play a very important role. Passengers can't do a thing. But pilots have to report it and demand action from the FAA. And if you make a record of it, there is hope of change.</s>BURNETT: So terrifying. Thank you very much, Mary. And still OUTFRONT, the outrage over the VA scandal continues. Tonight, TV host and U.S. Navy veteran, Montel Williams has harsh words. And Brad Pitt punched in the face at a movie premier. Tonight he fights back.