FAA investigates possible near-miss at JFK

NEW YORK — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)  is looking into a claim by air traffic controllers that two planes — one departing and one landing — came within about 100 feet of a collision at New York's Kennedy Airport over the weekend.

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"As of this time, we have no report of any such encounter," FAA spokeswoman Lynn Tierney said Monday. But as a precaution, "We are pulling the tapes" to determine what, if anything, took place.

A spokeswoman for LAN-Chile, one of the airlines the controllers said was involved, said the report was false.

National Air Traffic Controllers Association spokesman Barrett Byrnes said Cayman Airways Flight 792 executed a routine "go-around" — pulling up at the last minute instead of landing — around 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Meanwhile, LAN Flight 533 was leaving from a perpendicular runway, he said.

Byrnes said the controller ordered the inbound pilot to take a hard left and the outbound a hard right, avoiding a collision.

The controllers said Kennedy is among a number of airports that use perpendicular runways simultaneously, and the incident is an example of why the practice should be stopped.