controller during the incident that is right now under investigation. stop your head. stop the turn right there. stop your turn. stop your climbing. stop your turn, 39601. i d say that s tension and some real grace under fire. those planes were headed right towards each other. they were only about a mile apart which in airplane speak is about that much. they were in jet speeds that leaves almost no time to maneuver. here s cnn s rene marsh. reporter: two more passenger planes get too close in the skies. on may 9th, united flight 601 and united 437 took off from bush intercontinental airport in houston at roughly the same time. shortly after take off, flight 601 told to turn right, putting it in the path of the other plane. moments later the controller
there have been at least three reports of passenger jets ending up on a collision course. the latest a near miss involving two united planes over houston. reporter randy wallace is live in houston with the latest. what s going on, randy? near disaster on the sky happened on may the 9th around 10:00 p.m. here at bush intercontinents airport in houston. at the time both planes involved had about 150 passengers on board. now, according to the federal aviation administration. united flight 601 destined for vancouver was on runway 9. united 437 was headed to mexico. after the flight to mexico was airborne, and air traffic controller reportedly told the vancouver flight to turn right instead of left. that error, the faa says, caused two planes to basically cross directly on top of each other within a second from impact. the air traffic controller
my perspective. i had no idea what happened. it was gnarly looking. a left turn. renae marsh is our aviation correspondent. don, it has happened again. two planes with passengers on board get too close in the skies and we now know the faa is investigating. turn right. right turn. two more passenger planes get too close in the skies. on may 9, united flight 601 and united 437 took off from bush international airport in houston at roughly the same time. shortly after take-off, flight 601 is told to turn right, putting it in the path of the other plane. moments later the controller seems to realize the mistake. 601, stop the turn right there, sir. united 601, stop your climbing, stop your turn. the two planes came within
separating just in time. aviation correspondent rene marsh has the latest. reporter: kate, it has happened again. two planes with passengers on board get too close in the skies. now this morning the faa is investigating. two more passenger planes get too close in the skies. pilot 601, thank you, turn right, right turn. reporter: on may 9, united flights 601 and 437 took off from bush enter continental airport in houston at roughly the same time. shortly after takeoff flight 601 is told to turn right, putting it in the path of the other plane. moments later, the controller seems to realize the mistake. 601, stop your turn right there, sir. united 601 stop your turn, stop your climb and stop your turn united 601. reporter: the two planes came within nearly a mile of each other laterally and 400 feet vertically. one aviation analyst says at takeoff speed they were seconds
close in the skies and this morning we know the faa is now investigating. 601, a right turn. two more passenger planes get too close in the skies. on may 9th, united flight 601 and united 437 took off from bush intercontinental airport in houston at roughly the same time. shortly after takeoff, flight 601 is told to turn right putting it in the path of the other plane. moments later, the controller seems to realize the mistake. 601, stop the turn right there, sir. stop your turn. stop your climb. stop your turn 601. reporter: the two planes came within nearly a mile of each other. 300 passengers on both flights may not have been aware of the close call but the pilots were left with questions as to what went wrong. 601, you know what happened there? basically crossed directly