The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a close call between a JetBlue flight heading toward the Fort Lauderdale airport and another plane, officials confirmed Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Just after 6 p.m. Monday, JetBlue Flight 1256 was approaching Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after taking off from Guayaquil, Ecuador, earlier that day, according to FlightAware. But the passenger plane had to divert its path to avoid a potential collision with another aircraft, according to archived radio transmissions.<\/p>\n
The air traffic controller first warned the pilot about \u201cVFR traffic\u201d 6 nautical miles away, according to the archived radio. VFR traffic refers to planes that are navigating by Visual Flight Rules, or by sight, rather than using instruments.<\/p>\n
Less than two minutes later, the JetBlue pilot can be heard telling the air traffic controller, \u201cthey\u2019re turning toward us,\u201d according to the radio, while the air traffic controller reported that the plane was 1 nautical mile away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a TCAS alert, we\u2019re moving,\u201d the pilot said. A TCAS alert, referring to the plane\u2019s Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System, is a cockpit alert designed to avoid mid-air collisions by monitoring the space around an aircraft.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat guy\u2019s insane,\u201d the air traffic controller said after the pilot had successfully navigated away to avoid a potential collision, referring to the pilot of the VFR aircraft as \u201cMad Max.\u201d He later warned another pilot that \u201cthere\u2019s a VFR out there that\u2019s been trying to climb at aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the close call, the \u201crequired separation was maintained\u201d between the two aircraft, a spokesperson for the FAA said in an email, referring to the minimum distance legally allowed between two aircraft. The agency said it is investigating the event but did not respond to questions about the identity of the second aircraft.<\/p>\n
The incident comes amid heightened concerns over aviation safety in the wake of the mid-air collision that killed 67 people in Washington, D.C., in January 2025. Close calls involving commercial aircraft occur more often than people realize, averaging multiple times a week in 2023, the New York Times reported<\/a>. A shortage of air traffic controllers has exacerbated the problem.<\/p>\n