distance between two planes in flight

[LH 340-600]

On a flight fromChicago to Frankfurt on a UA B 777 I could see another Boeing of United. I could clearly recognize the titles and the colours. Though it was to far away to determine 100% if it was a 767 or a 777. I think it was a 767.
I just wonder if this distance was to close? Whats the min. distance between two jets over the Atlantic?

[Radomir]

Nope.. if you couldn't tell whether it was a 76 or 77... it wasn't too close. They use RVSM over the NATs, so 1000 ft above or below usually works Not sure exactly, but when flying on same altitude, the distance is quite a bit... something like 20 miles at least..

[Freightdogg]

During the time of the propliners of the 50's and 60's the horizontal separation for TransAtlantic aircraft was 120 NM. With better communication and tracking capabilities this has generally been reduced to 30 NM, however it really depends on a number of variables including your exact location and your cruise altitude. This link provides a lot of information on the subject.

http://www.natroutes.glideslope.de/

Some airlines allow their crews to operate under "VFR On Top" rules which allow the pilot to forego normal separation standards and visually separate themselves from other traffic.

In the case that you mentioned I suspect that while your horizontal separation may have been less than 30 miles this is acceptable so long as you also had vertical separation. The flight you observed was likely operating on another flight level.

[LH 340-600]

The other plane was flying as high as we did.

[LH 340-600]

And I remember that we were flying faster than the other jet did.

[Greg]

On approach they get really close. Once flying into STL we must have been less than 1000ft away from from another plane on approach to a parallel runway.

[LH 340-600]

here's a nice pic of two planes landing in FRA at the same time. Normaly the runways in FRA are to close to each other to allo parllel landings.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/253302/M/

I saw the United plane while we were flying over the atlantic and not while landing.

[B777-400]

Once I flew Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Beijing onboard a 747-400. I was allowed to go to the cockpit while in flight at 10,000m. Below and infront of us, I could clearly see another Lufthansa plane. The plane was obviously a A340. The captain told me it was on its way to Seoul. We were faster than them...we passed them a while later.

[indian airlines]

I think two planes have to be atleast 1000ft away from each other when in the air.

[JoeJoe440]

i thinks it 1000ft vertical seperation and 3000ft horizntal seperation.

Joe,

[Air1727]

On approach they get really close. Once flying into STL we must have been less than 1000ft away from from another plane on approach to a parallel runway.

STL's main runways, 12/30L/R are only seperated by 700ft, and during day VMC conditions, staggered simultaneous non-precision visual approaches are done which will really bring the opposite landing aircraft quite close. During 3-5SM vis, they will also allow localizer displaced approaches onto 30L and 12L. Once vis goes down though, because they are not at/or above the required 4300ft seperation for simultaneous instrument approaches, STL goes into a one runway operations for arrivals, or land and hold short ops with rwy 6/24 useage in effect also. This is why the new runway is being constructed, which will allow simultaneous instrument approaches and reduce delays.

[Southwest737]

I remember flying out of MCI on WN, right after we took off, another WN Plane pulled up besides us, and then we flew in the same direction for awhile, and then the WN plane turned right. It was a neat feeling.

Thats the only time I have expereinced a "CLOSE ONE"

Alex.

[Airigami]

In January, flying over the Atlantic off Ireland, EWR-AMS on SQ, we crept up on a US Airways 767-200 flying off our starboard, and a little higher than us, close enough that I could clearly read "US Airways", but not close enough that I could read the registration. I took a bunch of photos (none of which I've scanned yet) but they didn't really do the even justice. The photos make the plane look about twice as far away as it really was. We passed it after about 15 minutes. I think we were both Schipol-bound.

Back on Christmas Day in 2000, I was flying CX HKG-LHR in the dead of night, and we were over Scandinavia. I was looking out the window down at the lights of Sweden (?) when all of a sudden a commuter plane whisked under us in the opposite direction on our starboard side close enough that I could see the pilots.

Unfortunately they are the majority of the few close mid-air encounters I've seen. I also remember a holding pattern in a JAL 747-400 out of Narita flying JFK-NRT when I saw an American 777-200 above us, also in a holding pattern, and we'd see it on every revolution of our holding pattern. That was pretty cool. It wasn't as close as the US 767 though.

Through my personal experience, I've found Japan to be the best environment for seeing other aircraft in the air flying all directions around our plane. I was a bit disappointed that I haven't seen more of that over Europe than I expected...

[Airnerd]

On clear days at SFO planes routinely land simultaneously on the parallel runways. The runways are 750 feet apart. Pilots landing in this situation frequently make cabin announcements to reassure nervous passengers looking out their window at another aircraft 750 feet away. Here's the layout in a nice old pic from the database by William Gilson:

[LH 340-600]

just 750 feet? The runways are closer than at FRA.
Why are there no parallel landings at FRA during good weather?