The Federal Aviation Administration says radar data contradict air traffic controllers’ claim that two planes nearly collided at JFK Airport over the weekend. The data show the aircraft were not in danger, FAA officials told WABC.

The aircraft came no closer than 300 feet vertically and more than a half-mile horizontally as one plane took off and another attempted to land Saturday evening, and there was no potential for conflict, the FAA statement said.

Controllers said the planes came within 100 feet vertically and practically zero miles horizontally. The average distance between planes at the airport is about 1,000 feet and 3 miles.

The incident in question involved a Cayman Airways Flight which had apparently executed a routine “go-around” – a routine maneuver in which pilots pull up at the last minute instead of landing – around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, while a LAN Flight 533 was leaving from a perpendicular runway – at the same time. The controller in the JFK Control Tower had ordered the inbound pilot to take a hard left and the outbound a hard right, avoiding a collision.

(Source: WABC / 7online)