NATION IN BRIEF : ILLINOIS : Three Jets Avoid Crash Near Airport

Three commercial jets came too close to one another near Chicago’s Midway Airport Thursday night after an air traffic control error, the Federal Aviation Administration said. None of the passengers aboard the planes were injured, officials said. A Southwest Airlines 737, followed by a Northwest Airlines DC-9, was on approach to an airport runway when a Midway Airlines DC-9 headed in their direction on a path that would have crossed theirs, the FAA said. The Midway pilot sighted the Southwest plane after a warning from cockpit equipment. The pilot turned south, flying within 800 feet vertically and 1.75 miles horizontally of the Northwest plane. The Midway plane flew within 1,000 feet horizontally of the Southwest plane at the same altitude. “While the investigation is not yet complete, we have determined there was an operational error,” said Jim Dermody, a spokesman for the FAA.