The Region : Jets Had Close Call Over Orange County

Two jetliners had a close call over Orange County Sunday, and a United Airlines jet came within 100 feet of a small Beechcraft plane near Sacramento the same day, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Both incidents are still under investigation, according to FAA spokeswoman Elly Brekke. She said the Orange County case involved an air traffic controller who accidentally assigned a Phoenix-bound America West Boeing 737 from John Wayne Airport to the same altitude--21,000 feet--occupied by an American Airlines MD-80 bound from Long Beach to Dallas. A computer at the FAA’s Palmdale traffic control facility was monitoring the spacing between planes and sounded an alarm. But the America West pilot already had taken evasive action. The planes were between 500 and 1,000 feet apart, she said. That incident is not being classified as a near-miss, Brekke said. It’s not known how the near-miss near Sacramento occurred.