Near-miss aviation incidents to be subject of US Senate hearing

The US Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing next week on a series of troubling close-call aviation safety incidents that raised questions about FAA air traffic control operations. The Nov. 9 aviation subcommittee hearing, which was reported earlier by Reuters, will include FAA Air Traffic Organization head Tim Arel, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Rich Santa, Air Lines Pilots Association President Jason Ambrosi and former FAA administrator Randy Babbitt. The committee said it will examine "serious close calls across the National Airspace System and related efforts to improve the US aviation system's safety culture, processes and technologies." The NTSB has opened seven investigations into near-miss incidents since January, including some that were potentially catastrophic. "There have been far too many close calls and near-misses on our runways," Homendy said on Thursday during a speech. She noted the seven incidents this year "put more than 1,300 human lives at risk. ... These recent incidents must serve as a wake-up call for every single one of us, before something more catastrophic occurs." In August, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 and a Cessna Citation 560X business jet came less than 30 meters apart in San Diego. The FAA said an air traffic controller cleared the Cessna to land on a runway even though Southwest Flight 2493 had already been told to taxi onto the same runway.<br/>