The Federal Aviation Administration is trying to convince pilots and air traffic controllers to share information about mid-air collisions that were averted, according to The Wall Street Journal.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704340504575447883834823838.html?mod=ITP_pageone_1
United Airlines is likely to be the first airline to participate in the program, which seeks to collect data on what lead up to the near-crashes and ways to avert such dangerous situations, the newspaper reported.
The Journal cited FAA documents that said the initiaitive’s goal is to “more accurately identify potential hazards and develop more robust mitigation strategies.” The intent is not to take action against any pilots or controllers.
Why the fuss now? There have been a number of near-collisions mid-air during the past few months.
The Journal reported that according to the National Transportation Safety Board, in recent months there have been about 400 reports of cockpit-warning systems going off when plans flew too close to each other.
The ultimate goal of the new program is to couple flight data from instruments and interviews with pilots and controllers, rather than studying them separately.