An incident involving two American Airlines flights near Phoenix early Friday "could have been disastrous," according to an air traffic controller who helped manage the situation.

Both planes were operating as American Airlines Flight 2482 one traveling from Chicago to Phoenix and the other from Phoenix to Chicago.

The flights normally operate at different times, avoiding any conflict over the shared flight number. But the Chicago-to-Phoenix flight was delayed Friday, putting both planes in the same airspace at the same time.

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Flight-tracking data showed the planes converging along the same path while separated by about 3 miles horizontally and 2,000 feet vertically, within legal separation requirements.

Air traffic controllers were aware that the two aircraft were using the same call sign. In recorded audio, controllers can be heard distinguishing between them by referring to one as "2482 on arrival" and the other as "2482 on departure."

"I've been working in air traffic for 25 years. I've never seen two aircraft pretty much merge with the same call sign. That's pretty incredible," one controller said.

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"Yeah, I was going to say, good job. You know, I've been flying a lot less than that. I've never seen that either, so that's good," one of the pilots responded.

"Yeah, no problem. That was I'm glad it all worked out there. Could have been disastrous, but I'm glad it all worked out," the controller said.

In a statement to Scripps News, the Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating the incident.

Many of the companies awarded federal contracts to help carry out President Trumps immigration agenda are major corporations with a long history of doing work for the government.

That is not the case with the small company that may soon get millions of dollars by selling electric shock gloves for use by ICE agents.

Compliant Technologies LLC is the maker of the Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, the glove able to deliver a low voltage shock on skin contact.

A notice posted Monday by the Department of Homeland Security shows an intent to buy $10-$20 million worth of the devices which will be issued to Homeland Security Investigations (H.S.I.) and Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) officers and agents.

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Compliant Technologies is listed in federal contracting records as a veteran-owned business with a residential address in Nicholasville, Ky.

It has been registered as a federal government contractor since 2023, but public records show no record of the company ever receiving a federal contract or purchase order.

That stands in contrast to Axon, a company that has provided millions of dollars worth of Taser stun guns to the U.S. government over the years.

Compliant Technologies has outfitted smaller police departments with its signature gloves that electrify when an officer presses a button.

The company declined to answer questions sent in an email from Scripps News but its founder has spoken online about his business track record.

Compliant Technologies sits at over 400 agencies in 40 states in 9 countries, with over 40,000 uses, said Compliant Technologies founder Jeff Niklaus in a video posted online. We normally take people down in less than 3 seconds. Weve had no injuries or lawsuits to this point.

Questions have arisen about the ethics and lawfulness of ICE using the gloves of the gloves during the kind of intense confrontations playing out in places like Falls Church, Va., where an ICE agent pulled a gun on a driver this week.

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New York attorney general Letitia James said use of the gloves appear to violate multiple state laws.

In the event a New Yorker is injured as a result of these gloves, there will be a private right of action and action from the state of New York, you can be sure of that, James said during a Wednesday news conference.

While has posted an intention to buy the gloves, there is no record of any any contract award or purchase order to actually buy the devices.

When asked about the gloves, the Department of Homeland Security said it is constantly assessing the tools officers use to make arrests safely, consistent with federal law and standards.

The two main companies with government contracts to operate ICE detention centers are seeing significant revenue growth they expect will last all year. Both CoreCivic and the GEO Group released second quarter earnings reports last week.

Last year was the most successful period of business wins in our companys history and we expect 2026 to continue to be very active as well, said George Zoley, chairman and CEO of the GEO Group, during a call with investors.

The GEO Group reported a 15 percent increase in revenue in the second quarter, largely attributed to contracts with ICE to house immigrants at detention centers across the country.

CoreCivic, which also runs ICE detention centers, saw a 27 percent jump in revenue.

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The companies are notching up their forecasted earnings for the year, attributing the gains to ICE detaining more immigrants and the agency bringing more idle private detention centers online.

The GEO Group is also making money from ICE to track immigrants who are not locked up by offering ankle monitoring bracelets and other tracking technology.

Haitians who recently lost temporary protected status likely will increase demand for ankle monitoring, Zoley said.

Most of them, we believe, would be placed under the ankle monitoring supervision technique, Zoley told investors.

Another major source of revenue is the recent sales of detention centers to ICE.

CoreCivic expects to make $1.6 billion dollars after selling four detention centers to ICE, equaling $307,000 dollars in revenue per bed, CoreCivic CEO Patrick Swindle said during an earnings call with investors.

"We believe that demand for additional capacity has increased, Swindle said. We believe we are well positioned with already existing turnkey capacity to the extent if theres more.

The companies are still able to make money from sold detention centers by continuing to operate them under government contract.

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The growth in these companies bottom lines is happening as deaths of detainees reach record levels and amid persistent reports of inadequate medical care. CoreCivic and the GEO Group have repeatedly said all of their facilities meet strict national detention guidelines.