‘Near Miss’ by Planes Carrying 175 Laid to Radio Malfunction

ATLANTA —  Two airliners carrying a total of 175 people had a close encounter Wednesday 35,000 feet over Tennessee after a blocked radio frequency kept an air traffic controller from warning the pilots, federal aviation officials said.

Neither United Airlines Flight 743 from Fort Myers, Fla., to Chicago nor Braniff Flight 515 from New York City to Dallas had to take evasive action, but the Boeing 727s were within sight of each other.

“One of the crew members spotted another aircraft at the same altitude, and it passed behind the United jet,” United spokesman Chuck Novak said, calling the incident a “near miss.”

Roger Myers, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta, said an inoperative microphone caused the air traffic controller in Atlanta to lose communication with the two airliners. Myers termed the incident a “near-midair collision.”

“We’ve learned the controller involved in working these two aircraft was trying to take corrective action when he realized he couldn’t communicate because of a stuck microphone on the frequency,” Myers said. “He could not communicate with the aircraft to . . . ensure separation.”

Myers said the FAA was investigating the incident to determine if the malfunctioning microphone was on one of the airliners or on another plane using the same radio frequency.