OBERLIN, Ohio, March 6 (UPI) -- A pilot's last-second maneuver averted a collision over Ohio this week after a controller trainee directed one aircraft into another's path, officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the trainee at the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center in Oberlin, Ohio, created the danger when he told a pilot to turn into the path of the other plane, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reported Thursday. The trainee and other controllers reportedly didn't see the hazard.
The Delta plane was less than 10 seconds from colliding with a PSA Airlines regional jet when the Delta pilot put the plane into a dive, said Melissa Ott, spokeswoman for the Oberlin facility's National Air Traffic Controllers. The PSA pilot also took evasive action.
The near-miss occurred Tuesday east of Pittsburgh. The Delta plane had 57 people on board and the PSA flight had 70. The trainee's instructions had the PSA pilot veering into the Delta flight path.
Ott said the trainee and the trainer didn't see the danger because they "were both so busy."
"It was the closest call I have ever seen in my 18 years of air traffic control," Ott told The Plain Dealer. "If they had hit, it would have been a catastrophe."
