Page 6 - Express Jet News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Essentially her company saying i can no longer do this, how can we work this out? >> she's had the job for three years. she was not muslim when she took the job. she converted a year after taking that job. she says it's against her muslim beliefs to serve alcohol. they come to an agreement and they have this reasonable accommodation where she doesn't have to serve alcohol. other airline flight attendants pick up that responsibility. it seemed to be working out just fine. two months later one of her co-workers complained saying she wasn't fulfilling her job responsibilities at which time expres...

On? >> reporter: this is no longer surprising. the faa says there are two reports every single day from pilots of helicopters or airplanes of drones flying uncomfortably close during takeoff or on approach for landing. near small, medium and large airports nationwide. a daily occurrence, despite the fact the faa restricts unmanned aircraft hobbiests from flying at five miles from an airport and highest altitude of 400 feet. four different planes on approach to newark just after noon sunday when flight crews spotted a drone at 2,000 to 3,000 feet, eight to 13 miles from runway 4 right. express ...

Do you get a sense that they're trying to put people on flights on other airlines. >> i'm actually sitting on a plane right now on united's express jet. we pulled up to the gate and people are waiting to get off the plane. i think people will start to get a sense if there may be an issue and they have a connection. as of now i think we're really in the midst of how we get to our next destination. i had to come back with my producer to go to work. we booked knowing that there was this ground stop issue just by calling another carrier. but i think other people are about to find out as we get off...

Of each other as they were both taking off in houston. all this comes as the faa investigates claims a flight from hawaii to l.a. went into a steep dive to avoid hitting another plane over the pacific ocean. and two days before that, an express jet cleared for takeoff at newark airport just as the united airlines flight was landing at an intersecting runway. you might be asking, what the heck is going on? and are we still safe to fly? joining me now is mike boyd, aviation security analyst with boyd group international. are we safe to fly? >> i think we're safe to fly. it can be a whole lot saf...

The cause of these frightening close calls. >> reporter: the close calls involve air traffic controllers on each end of the country. may 9th in houston, united flight 601 was departing from vancouver on runway 9 as united flight 437 was leaving from mexico city on runway 15. the controller apparently made a serious mistake. >> 601, thank you, heading 340. >> instead of telling the vancouver flight to turn left he told him to turn right into the path of the other plane. the controller then quickly realized his mistake. united 601, stop your climbing and stop your turn, united 601. >> reporter: ...