Planes Narrowly Avoid Collision at Newark Airport

0:00On March 20, two planes came within a few hundred feet of colliding Tuesday night at Newark Liberty International Airport. An Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon and a FedEx cargo plane from Memphis, Tennessee were both lining up to land around 817. PM, air traffic control cleared the FedEx flight for final approach on an intersecting runway, then ordered the Alaska jet to go around. Radar showed the planes past each other by just 300 to 325 feet. Both airlines confirmed their crews followed all instructions with the Alaska pilots executing the go-around as trained. The FedEx plane landed safely right after. The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into what went wrong. This close call happened on the 34th day of the partial government shutdown amid reports of high TSA absences. Around 30% of officers miss ships at airports like JFK, Pittsburgh and Houston's Bush Intercontinental and 40% at Houston's, hobby airport.

1:01Airports are pitching in with support for unpaid TSA workers while major airline leaders push for a quick resolution to the standoff. Officials continue to monitor air traffic safety as the probe unfolds.