Frontier jet has close call with charter plane

Flight came within 50 feet of smaller aircraft, safety officials say

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updated 6:20 p.m. ET Jan. 5, 2007

DENVER - A Frontier Airlines jet attempting to land Friday at Denver International Airport came within 50 feet of a smaller charter plane that had inadvertently entered the runway, federal aviation officials said.

The Frontier crew spotted the Key Lime Air plane in time, aborted the landing and continued flying until it could land the jetliner a short time later, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Frontier and Key Lime officials declined comment. Neither the airlines nor the investigators would say how many passengers were on the two planes. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration were investigating.

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The NTSB said the Frontier Airbus A-319 from St. Louis had emerged from low clouds as it was about to land about 7:30 a.m. when the flight crew saw the charter plane.

The charter plane was to fly from Denver to Garfield County Regional Airport in western Colorado.

It was snowing and misty at the time, with half-mile visibility, but NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said there was no way to tell whether those conditions contributed to the incident.