"Please tell me why a 1.5 mile separation rates as a near-collision. The runways at Honolulu are not even that far apart.
I agree that not reporting this was wrong, but this "news" coverage is way overblown."
Well because 1) the planes are moving parallel to each so the distance is not rapidly closing, on each other, 2) they are moving quite a bit faster when they are at altitude in cruise flight. This planes were moving directly towards each other. So lets say each aircraft is flying 350 mph directly towards each other the 1.5 miles will go by in 7.714285 secs. So if you were on a plane that was going to crash in 7.714285 seconds would you be worried?
