Midair Encounter Raises Eerie Memories

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NEW YORK: If two F-16's hadn't on Wednesday come so close to a civilian plane that collision alarms went off, news that four National Guard fighter jets passed close to another commercial flight would have barely registered on the media radar screen. But the planes did, and for the second day in a row, Pentagon officials found themselves explaining a miss that, while not nearly as close a call at the first one, has raised concerns about the safety in the airspace between New York and Washington, D.C. As an investigation into Wednesday's incident continues, Pentagon officials insist that the two Air National Guard F-16 fighters were not toying with a Nations Air jet flying off the New Jersey coast. The pilot of the Boeing 727 followed safety procedures and went first into a steep dive, then a sharp climb, jostling the 84 people aboard. At least one of the F-16s stayed reportedly within 400 feet of the plane. Air traffic controllers could not help, because the aircrafts' radar blips had merged on their screens. Although the military says the pilots followed correct procedures, "The fighter pilots could simply have radioed the other guy for ID, but they didn't follow the normal procedure," says TIME's Edward Barnes. The close encounter has also renewed speculation about the still unsolved crash of TWA flight 800. Conspiracy buffs on the Internet were quick to point to the latest incident as evidence supporting their theory that a military screw-up caused the crash.