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No. Define "just missed". Flying across country (Florida to Washington), I saw another plane flying in the other direction. The plane looked and felt like it wa

No. Define "just missed". Flying across country (Florida to Washington), I saw another plane flying in the other direction. The plane looked and felt like it was right next to us, like .. hundreds of yards apart. Cross-country planes do this all the time, so far as I can gather. [edit: fixed typo, added ending to sentence]

adestefan 15y ago
I thought the same thing. Wondered if it was within the 3 mi/1000 mi box.
prawn 15y ago
Probably fair to say that planes are under pilot control whereas the balloon was at the mercy of the winds, right?
kirubakaran 15y ago
What you experienced is a "near miss" and it probably happened only because someone somewhere fucked up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_miss_(safety) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_miss_(safety)
- mikeash 15y ago
  In my opinion, it's far more likely that he greatly underestimated the distances between the two planes. People who aren't used to these things tend to see a few miles of separation as a few hundred feet instead. Airliners are big.
  - sukuriant 15y ago
    This is an incredible possibility.