DALLAS — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating an incident involving three planes that circled over the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex during severe weather last week.
The FAA told WFAA in a statement Thursday that the incident was a "loss of standard separation" where two cargo jets and a passenger plane were in holding patterns on Thursday, March 16.
According to the FAA's statement, preliminary information shows that the pilots of FedEx Flight 3952, a Boeing 767, responded to an automated alert from an onboard Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) due to the indicated proximity of UPS Flight 5510, a Boeing 747.
While responding to the alert, the FedEx flight descended into a 1,000-foot vertical safety buffer between it and United Airlines Flight 2319, a Boeing 737, the FAA statement continued. The crew of the United Flight then descended in response to their own alert.
The FAA said preliminary analysis of the event shows the closest proximity between the FedEx 3952 and UPS 5510 was 1.1 miles laterally and 900 feet vertically, and the closest proximity between FedEx 3952 and United 2319 was 1.3 miles laterally and 1,000 feet vertically.
TCAS alerts don't indicate an imminent collision risk but rather predict a potential conflict based on current flight paths, the FAA noted.
WFAA has reached out to all three aircraft carriers for comment.
United Airlines told WFAA it is referring all questions to the FAA. We have not heard back from FedEx or UPS.
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