A potential aviation disaster was narrowly avoided near Phoenix after an air traffic controller noticed that two American Airlines jets were operating under the same flight number while approaching and departing the airport at almost the same time.The incident happened shortly after midnight on Friday, when an American Airlines flight arriving from Chicago was approaching Phoenix as another aircraft assigned the same flight number was preparing to depart. Both aircraft were identified as American 2482, creating the risk of confusion as their flight paths converged.How the disaster was avertedAudio of the incident, posted by ATC.com, captures the controller repeatedly referring to the aircraft as “American 2482 on the arrival” and “American 2482 on the departure”. This allowed the pilots to distinguish between the two aircraft as the controller issued instructions.The arriving aircraft was kept above the departing jet as their flight paths crossed. The controller also instructed the departing aircraft not to climb too high, preserving a safe vertical gap between the two planes. Both pilots were able to see the other aircraft while they were still several miles apart.After the aircraft had safely passed each other, the arriving pilot praised the controller, telling him it was “nice work”.“It could have been disastrous, but I’m glad it worked out,” the controller replied.The controller later said he had worked in air traffic control for 25 years and had never seen two aircraft “pretty much merge with the same call sign”.Why were both planes using the same flight numberAviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said the incident likely resulted from an overlap that was not detected by the airline’s dispatch operation. Both the dispatcher and pilots would normally review and approve the flight plans, making it unusual for two aircraft with the same flight number to be scheduled to occupy the same airspace at the same time.“You can drop the ball and that shouldn’t happen, but it’s nice to see that the system is resilient and we have all the safeguards,” Arroyo said. He added that he had encountered a similar problem only a few times during his four decades with United Airlines.Flight 2482 regularly operates between Chicago and Phoenix. The Chicago-bound aircraft had been delayed by bad weather, while American Airlines had arranged for another aircraft in Phoenix to operate the scheduled departure on time. This resulted in both aircraft briefly sharing the same airspace.
