Delta plane arriving in Salt Lake avoids collision with small aircraft

Passengers on Delta flight 1172 had a bumpy ride as the plane was descending into Salt Lake City International Airport Sunday night, as the plane made a quick ascent to avoid a collision with a small aircraft.

About 9 p.m., as the MD-90 plane was approaching the Salt Lake airport, a controller in the tower told the Delta pilot to make a turn because there was a small aircraft approaching the same point in the air, said Delta Air Lines spokesman Anthony Black. The pilot decided to act.

"They made an initial turn, and then they pulled up the aircraft and then continued their descent," Black said.

Delta planes are equipped with technology to communicate to pilots when another plane is nearby. "The pilots are trained on how to make an abrupt adjustment," Black said.

Mike Fergus, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration's regional office in Seattle, said the closest the planes got to each other was when the Delta plane was turning. They were 1.5 miles and 500 vertical feet apart.

"The air crew never reported (the incident), and neither did the FAA," Fergus said. "And it was kind of a routine, precautionary move that the pilot made per air-traffic control instructions, and then the airline's own operations accentuated the maneuver because of their particular policy."

Incidents of planes heading toward each other are unusual. "It is very rare across the entire national air space system," Fergus said.

— Laura Hancock