What’s the deal with US airplanes nearly colliding?

The first few months of 2023 have seen a notable uptick in incidents where US passenger jets have either collided, or narrowly avoided making contact, with another plane. In fact, commercial jets are currently experiencing close calls with other aircraft at a faster pace than the previous five years combined, per a new Politico analysis of FAA data.

• From 2018 through 2022, there were 23 total incidents where two planes in the US came close to colliding.
• But this year has already seen six near-misses, plus one minor collision that occurred in Boston on Monday. At this pace, we’ll see more than 35 incidents in 2023 alone.

🤔 What’s behind the recent uptick?... Short answer: it’s currently unclear. Airline industry experts say there doesn’t appear to be a common denominator between the situations, making it difficult to identify which specific areas need fixing.

• A leading theory, suggested by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg this week, is that the trend is connected to the increased number of new pilots and air traffic controllers hired over the past couple of years, as travel demand bounced back from the reduced levels it experienced during the pandemic.

👀 Looking ahead… Each of this year’s incidents is currently being investigated by both the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board, with the agencies’ final reports and recommendations expected to take around a year to complete.