2 jets narrowly avoid midair collision near Kennedy Airport

A Republic Airlines flight making a second attempt to land at Kennedy Airport on Monday afternoon narrowly missed colliding with another passenger jet on final approach, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday. 

The pilots of Republic Airways Flight 4464, a Embraer ERJ 175 twin-engine jet that left Indianapolis at 12:40 p.m. on Monday, missed on its initial approach, according to the FAA, which is investigating the close call.

The jet tried again but appeared headed toward Jazz Aviation Flight 554 from Toronto, which had been cleared to land on a parallel runway, the FAA said. The Republic jet abruptly turned to the left, according to online flight data. The FAA described it as a go-around maneuver at about 2:35 p.m. The plane landed safely at 2:54 p.m., according to FlightAware.com.

The Jazz Aviation jet, also an Embraer ERJ 175, landed without incident at 2:49 p.m. after leaving Toronto at 1:13 p.m., the FlightAware data shows.

Jazz Aviation is a partner with Air Canada. In March, an Air Canada Express jet operated by Jazz Aviation collided with a Port Authority fire truck on a LaGuardia runway. The two pilots were killed and about 40 of the roughly 70 passengers and crew members aboard were treated at hospitals for injuries.

According to cockpit and tower recordings of the near-miss monitored by LiveATC, an air traffic controller issued radio messages for the pilots of both planes to fly at different altitudes to avoid a collision. Cockpit alarms could be heard  and controllers directed the Republic Airways Flight to maintain 2,000 feet altitude,

One of the pilots, using the call sign Brickyard 4464, said: "We are going around."

Another air traffic controller told the crew of the Jazz Airways flight to climb and maintain altitude at 3,000 feet.

"The traffic on the left is overshooting their parallel. ... That guy overshot," the controller says on the recording.

The near miss follows two Southwest planes that had to take evasive maneuvers Saturday to avoid a midair collision in Nashville, Tennessee.

With AP

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.