Background
Two Trans World Airlines (TWA) flights, with call signs TWA 843H and TWA 834, were approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) for landing. Flight 843H, a Boeing 747, was 22 minutes late, while flight 834, a Boeing 727, was 12 minutes early, resulting in the same arrival time. New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) vectored flight 834 behind flight 843H.
Incident Description
While vectoring the aircraft, the JFK final controller inadvertently transposed the flight numbers and gave a vector for flight '834H' (intended for flight 843H) to turn final for a VOR runway 13L approach. Flight 843H did not readily detect the error and continued its last assigned heading of 300 degrees. Approximately 72 seconds later, flight 843H queried the controller, but by that time, the controller had noted his error and gave flight 843H a turn to reverse direction.
However, flight 843H had entered LaGuardia Airport airspace and converged on another aircraft, Pan Am flight 537, both at 3,000 feet. Flight 537 was being vectored for an Instrument Landing System (ILS) runway 4 approach to LaGuardia on another frequency. Noting the aircraft were converging, the controllers told each respective flight to climb while they attempted to resolve the problem. Flight 537 came out of clouds; the crew saw the other aircraft, took evasive action, and passed with approximately 600 feet of separation.
Controller Vision Issue
The JFK controller had 20/80 vision but was not wearing glasses as required.