NATION : Astronaut Pilots in Close Calls

NASA astronauts have had three close calls while flying jet aircraft since May, 1989, and the National Transportation Safety Board said the agency should correct problems “before other dangerous situations are created.”

The safety board said at a hearing that in May, 1989, an astronaut passed close to a Pan Am jetliner flying from Dulles International Airport near Washington, and that another National Aeronautics and Space Administration jet passed within three miles of an Eastern Airlines DC-9 near Paducah, Ky. In September, 1989, a NASA T-38 jet passed within 3.1 miles of a small civilian aircraft.