FAA Rules Out Alcohol, Drugs in Jets’ Near-Miss

The Federal Aviation Administration Friday ruled out drugs or alcohol as a factor in an air traffic control error that allowed two jetliners to pass within five miles of each other over the Pacific Ocean on New Year’s Day.

The planes, 747s operated by Air New Zealand and TWA, were under the guidance of the Air Route Traffic Control Center at Palmdale, said Russell Park, a spokesman for the FAA’s Western Pacific Region. The Palmdale center, 60 miles north of Los Angeles, was the focus of an investigation of drug use by controllers last year.

In the Jan. 1 incident about 195 miles west of Los Angeles, investigators determined that although air traffic controllers appeared to have erred in allowing the planes to come so close together, there was no reason to believe drugs or alcohol were involved, Park said.

No Drug Tests

“That possibility has been ruled out,” he said. “No drug tests were given and there was no reason to give any.”

Both planes were at an altitude of 37,000 feet in an area where vertical separation should have been at least 2,000 feet, Park said. The 2,000-foot regulation applies except when planes are 20 flight minutes apart, about 100 horizontal miles, he said, adding that they were actually about five miles apart.

The Air New Zealand plane was flying to Los Angeles from Auckland and the TWA jet was flying from St. Louis, Mo., to Honolulu.

“We are looking at an error on the part of a controller or controllers,” Park said.