>I hate that they call this having a "near-collision"
>They came close to having a collision
What?
>but there was nothing like any sort of collision
Because "near"
>They came close to having a collision
What?
>but there was nothing like any sort of collision
Because "near"
That said, this is all pedantic.
See e.g. stopping distances for car drivers at different speeds.
Near collision is not about inches of distance. It is how close we got to an accident happening. If the timing were a little bit different, or someone noticed things a little bit late, or the weather were a bit foggier, or the runway a bit slipperier we could have two burning wrecks and everyone on-board dead.
“Near collision” is exactly right here. So many things went wrong here, and the fact that everything turned out fine were up to chance. That is we come near to a collision happening.
Right, because "near." It's in the title.
Was it any kind of collision? No, it wasn't. There was no collision of any kind.
Was it any kind of miss? Yes, it was a miss. What kind? A near one.