FAA investigating midair near-collision between Delta, United flights over Phoenix

The FAA is investigating after two passenger jets carrying hundreds of passengers almost collided near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Saturday. 

Both planes were cleared to land at 11 a.m. local time when Delta Flight 1070 received a collision warning. The flight, carrying 245 passengers on the Airbus A330 plane, was inbound from Detroit.

A similar alert was set off on United Flight 1724 from San Francisco when attempting to land. The Boeing 737 plane was carrying 129 passengers. 

The two airplanes were 425 feet apart vertically and less than a second later were less than a quarter of a mile apart horizontally, according to preliminary flight data from Flightradar24. 

Air traffic control issued corrective instructions to both flight crews and the two planes landed safely, according to the FAA. 

In air traffic control audio obtained by CBS News, a controller can be heard clearing the United flight to land on Runway 7 right and then told the Delta flight to turn into position to land on Runway 8.

That’s when the collision warning went off in the cockpit. “Descend, descend” is heard in the background.

The close call at the Phoenix airport comes amid an increase in plane near-collisions. On Jan. 8, a United flight was clipped by another plane at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and in April a Boston-bound JetBlue flight had a close call on the runway at Reagan National Airport.