TECUMSEH — The Federal Aviation Administration continues
to investigate an incident Sunday evening over Tecumseh involving a
Spirit Airlines flight and a Skydive Tecumseh plane.
Franz Gerschwiler, who operates Skydive Tecumseh, said he was told by FAA officials both by telephone and email that his pilot did nothing wrong.
“We’re squeaky clean,” he said. “The FAA took great pains to tell us we
are not under investigation. My pilot is not under investigation. He
did everything right.”
According to the FAA, the Airbus 319
jetliner took off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport with 126 passengers
and a crew of five, bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
It was over Tecumseh at 8:22 p.m. when controllers reported another
plane nearby.
“It was our plane. My pilot had visual contact
the whole time,” Gerschwiler said. “There was some kind of
miscommunication between the airliner and the tower.”
According to the FAA, the airline pilot confirmed his Terminal Collision
Avoidance System could see the skydive plane, which was at about 12,000
feet. The jetliner was at 14,400 feet.
According to the
email from Elizabeth Cory from the FAA, “A minute later, the Spirit jet
received an automated TCAS warning that required him to begin an
immediate 1,600-foot descent to 12,800 feet from a previous altitude of
14,400 feet. At their closest point, the planes were about 1.6 miles
apart horizontally and 400 feet vertically.”
On Tuesday, Cory
said nothing has changed since Monday and the investigation will take
as long as it needs to take as it is a very serious matter. She said the
FAA will be thorough because planes should not be that close to each
other while in the air.
“This doesn’t happen very often and we want to be certain it doesn’t happen again,” she said.
According to the Associated Press, flight attendants on the Spirit
jetliner bumped their heads and luggage spilled out of overhead bins as
the plane took the sudden steep dive. No passengers were injured,
according to Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson.
“Our pilots
followed appropriate procedures and adjusted their flight path upon
receiving an advisory of another possible aircraft in range,” Pinson
told the AP in an email. “The flight continued to Dallas/Fort Worth
without incident.”
Source: http://www.lenconnect.com
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