Fed agency probes runway safety at Cleveland Hopkins airport

CLEVELAND (AP) — Federal safety officials are investigating how an air-traffic controller trainee at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport twice directed planes onto the same runway.

The National Transportation Safety Board said today the so-called “runway incursions” occurred June 3 and June 26.

In the first incident, planes came within 500 feet of each other on the same runway before a pilot radioed the tower. In the second case, a pilot saw the other plane on the runway and the planes got within 1,500 feet.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which runs the Hopkins control tower, says it will cooperate with the NTSB investigation. The FAA says the controller in training and a supervisor could be sent for more training when the investigation is completed.