A PSA Bombardier CRJ 700 and a Comair CRJ 700 nearly collided in midair after a trainee controller, with about a year on the job, directed the Comair aircraft toward the PSA flight. However, in what the Federal Aviation Administration described as an operational error, the two came within 400 feet vertically and three miles laterally, according to the FAA. The two took evasive action as directed by the collision avoidance systems.
The Comair aircraft, Flight 1654, was en route to LaGuardia from Cincinnati with 57 passengers on board while PSA, a subsidiary of US Airways, Flight 2273, with 70 on board was en route from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to Charlotte. The FAA said the trainee accidentally directed the two toward each other but the passengers were never in danger. Another controller at the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center was working with the trainee at the time, said the agency.