Dangerously close near-miss incidents across the US are a wakeup call to the aviation industry

• A spike in near-miss events between commercial aircraft in the US this year has rattled the general public.
• The Federal Aviation Administration has created a safety review committee to comb through data and look for trends.
• The New York Times cited a shortage of air traffic controllers as a significant factor in the string of close calls.

The US airline industry has narrowly avoided what could have been some of the worst disasters in its history. And, for regulators, the incidents were too close for comfort.