US planes narrow mid air crash miss over Syracuse airport in New York state captured on dash cam, viral

Two planes from major commercial airlines narrowly escaped a massive clash mid-air in Syracuse in New York state this week. The frightening moment was captured on a dash camera video taken by the city police. The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into the incident.

Officials said that the near-collision happened on Monday as the two regional jets navigated around a traffic control error that reportedly initially cleared one plane to depart from the Syracuse Hancock International Airport at the same time as the other was green signalled to land on the same runway.

The video shows the jets coming from different directions, and heading to the same point in mid-air. Seconds later, they appear to collide when one of the two planes moves to the left while the other to the right.

Although experts said that the flights were not actually on a collision course, preliminary evidence showed that the planes were, momentarily, flying in close proximity – only 725 feet apart at their nearest point, CBS News reported.

The audio of Air Traffic Control’s communication with both flights indicates that the controller initially gave a green light for landing to American Eagle Flight 5511, operated by PSA Airlines, a regional branch of American Airlines. Then, the controller gave another go-ahead for departure from the same runway designated for the other plane to Delta Connection 5421, operated by Endeavor Air, which is a regional branch of Delta, CBS News reported.

At this point, a pilot on the American flight was heard on the audio, confused and asking, “Wait, who’s cleared to take off on 28?”

He then received a response from traffic control with instructions to abort the landing and “go around”, which the pilot followed, the CBS News report added.

However, Flight Radar data revealed that the American Airlines flight, while climbing to an altitude of nearly 1,900 feet, continued on a path that ultimately led it over the runway where the Delta flight was taking off. As the Delta flight took off and climbed upward, there was a moment when it flew under the American plane, flying 725 feet above.