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NEWARK, N.J. — <\/span>A close call between a commercial airliner and a cargo plane attempting to land on crossing runways at Newark Liberty International Airport was being investigated Thursday by federal aviation officials.<\/p>\n The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating Tuesday night’s incident during which an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 overflew a FedEx Boeing 777 at the busy New York City area airport.<\/p>\n An air traffic controller instructed Alaska Airlines Flight 294 from Portland, Oregon, to perform a go around \u2014 that is, discontinue its landing approach and circle around for a new approach to land \u2014 because FedEx Flight 721 from Memphis, Tennessee, was cleared for a final approach to an intersecting runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which also was investigating.<\/p>\n Alaska Airlines said in a prepared statement that the flight was cleared to land at Newark and that air traffic control \u201cissued a go around to our aircraft, which our pilots are highly trained for.\u201d There were 171 passengers and 6 crew members on board the flight, according to the airline.<\/p>\n FedEx said in a prepared statement that its flight crew followed instructions from air traffic control and landed safely. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n