Near Misses at JFK Prompt FAA Plans for 20 Airports

The Federal Aviation Administration is moving to add new safety features at 20 airports including John F. Kennedy International Airport, La Guardia Airport, and Newark International Airport, the agency's acting administrator, Robert Sturgell, has announced.

The move comes after two separate incidents at JFK this month during which planes came dangerously close to colliding with each other, leading to concern that safety standards were not up to par at the airport.

Mr. Sturgell said yesterday the FAA is looking to award a contract this fall to install runway status lights over a three-year period. The lights are designed to warn pilots before they enter or cross an unsafe runway. In addition, the FAA plans to test new electronic displays in cockpits that alert pilots to oncoming runway traffic.

On Friday, the FAA reported that two planes had come within a half-mile of colliding at JFK, with a Delta Boeing 757 that was landing and a Comair Bombardier CRJ9 that was taking off accidentally moving into the same flight path. On July 5, a Cayman Airways Boeing 737 executing a missed approach entered the path of a Linea Aerea Nacional de Chile Boeing 767 that was taking off. It is not clear what the exact distance was between the two planes, but the National Air Traffic Controllers Association estimated their proximity at as little as 100 feet and quoted air traffic controllers at the scene who described the incident as one of the most serious they had seen in decades.

After the most recent incident, air traffic controllers at JFK instituted a new system of "sequencing" flights to reduce the likelihood of planes' flight paths intersecting, according to the Associated Press.