Planes 300 feet apart in air over SF

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - March 31, 2010 -- Federal investigators are looking into the weekend near collision of a commercial jet and a small airplane over San Francisco.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating Saturday's near-miss between United Airlines Flight 889 to Beijing, China, and a light-wing airplane.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says the planes came within 300 feet vertically and 1,500 feet horizontally of colliding. The United flight continued to Beijing with no further incident.

Gregor says air traffic controllers cleared the United flight for takeoff Saturday morning and quickly spotted a Cessna 182 flying south. The controller radioed the pilots, and the jet's collision-avoidance system alerted the its pilots, causing them to level the plane's climb.

Gregor says the controller should've noticed the Cessna earlier, and FAA is taking "strong measures to make sure something similar does not occur in the future."

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