FAA is investigating a midair near-collision between two planes near the Phoenix airport

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a narrowly missed midair collision between a United flight and a Delta flight at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Saturday, the agency said.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a narrowly missed midair collision between a United flight and a Delta flight at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Saturday, the agency said. Delta Flight 1070 had been cleared to land at Sky Harbor’s Runway 8 when a collision warning went off in the cockpit at roughly 11 a.m., according to CNN affiliate KTVK. The flight, carrying 245 passengers on an Airbus A330-300, was inbound from Detroit. At the same time, a similar alert was set off on United Flight 1724 from San Francisco, carrying 123 passengers. The FAA noted both planes landed safely “after experiencing a loss of required separation when they were inbound,” adding that air traffic control issued corrective instructions to both crews. At their closest point, the aircraft were 1,217 feet — less than a quarter mile — apart, according to data from flight tracking site Flightradar24. At the time, the planes were separated vertically by 875 feet. “Prior to that, United was descending towards the airport above Delta and began climbing again … from a lowest altitude of 4,075 (feet),” Flightradar24 spokesperson Ian Petchenik told CNN in an email Tuesday. At the time United began climbing again, the two aircraft were .793 miles apart laterally (and) 425 feet apart vertically.”