Two planes nearly collided in the air above a Florida airport in a close call that was captured on video – and the FAA is now investigating the mishap, according to a report.
The pilot of a single-engine Cessna plane came within about 500 feet of a Delta 757 that was taking off from Orlando International Airport last month, ABC News reported.
The pilot, Malik Clarke, told the news station he had to take “evasive action” to avoid the much larger plane.
“I knew that this didn’t look right, so immediately, I turned right and I climbed as steeply as I could because the Boeing 757 from Delta has a much higher climb rate than the aircraft that I was flying,” Clarke told ABC.
Video taken by Clarke of the incident shows the huge jet taking off just a relatively short distance from his small aircraft.
“If I hadn’t done that evasive maneuver, it’s quite likely there would have been a midair collision,” he added.
The Federal Aviation Administration is now probing the near-miss, according to the report.
“It was somebody’s error to put them in the same part of the sky,” Steve Ganyard, an ABC News contributor and former State Department official, said.
Delta is also investigating the error.
“Nothing is more important than safety,” a spokesperson told ABC.
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