Federal authorities investigate near-collision of two planes at Virginia airport
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident at Ronald Reagan Washington national airport in which a plane was forced to brake to narrowly avoid a collision with another plane, the second near-collision at the airport in less than two months.
At around 10.20am on Wednesday, Boston-bound American Airlines flight 2134, carrying approximately 100 passengers and crew, was cleared for takeoff and began to accelerate.
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The plane was then forced to abort as it was scheduled at the same time as another plane, a private King Air flight, was cleared to land on an intersecting runway.
The American Airlines plane had been traveling up to 100mph when it was ordered to break immediately, NBC 10 reports.
In air traffic controller recordings obtained by the outlet, an air traffic controller can be heard saying: “American 2134, cancel takeoff clearance! Zero, Alpha, Alpha, go around, go around!”
“Rejecting the takeoff, 2134,” another voice said.
“Zero, Alpha, Alpha cannot go around, we were already on the ground,” someone who appeared to be the pilot from the King Air plane said.
In a statement an FAA spokesperson said: “An air traffic controller canceled the takeoff clearance for American Airlines Flight 2134 because another aircraft was cleared to land on an intersecting runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.”
American Airlines said it was working alongside the FAA in its investigation, adding, “The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, and we’re grateful to our crew for their professionalism.”
The Virginia Democratic senator Tim Kaine tweeted: “I’m relieved no one was hurt. But this incident underscores again that DCA [Ronald Reagan Washington national airport] is at capacity. This shows why Senate action to jam even more flights into DCA was so dangerous. The FAA must resist any new flights that compromise safety.”
Wednesday’s incident marks the airport’s second near-collision in six weeks.
On 18 April, a Southwest Airlines plane and nearly collided with a JetBlue plane after an air traffic controller instructed it to cross the runway while the JetBlue plane was getting ready to take off.
No injuries were reported and the FAA said at the time it would investigate.
A slew of issues have beset the global aviation industry in recent months. Last week, one passenger died and dozens were injured following intense turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight heading from London to Singapore. A few days later, eight people were hospitalized following another bout of turbulence on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin.
In March, United Airlines had at least four safety incidents within a week, with flights being forced to make emergency diversions due to issues with hydraulic systems, planes rolling off taxiways and on to grassy lawns and a tire falling off mid-flight.
