A passenger jet has aborted a landing at Reagan National Airport in DC to avoid a collision – weeks after the deadly crash that killed 65 people at the same airport.
The American Airlines flight from Boston Logan International was approaching the runway at 8.20am Tuesday when the pilot saw another plane preparing to take off from the same point.
They made a quick decision to loop around overhead to avoid another crash, as demonstrated by a tracing of the Maryland-bound plane’s path on FlightAware.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a statement about the incident.
‘An air traffic controller instructed American Flight 2246 to perform a go-around at Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) Airport to ensure separation was maintained between this aircraft and a preceding departure from the same runway,’ the agency said.
American Airlines said the flight ‘landed safely and normally at DCA after it was instructed by Air Traffic Control to complete a standard go-around to allow another aircraft more time for takeoff.’
‘American has a no-fault go-around policy as a go-around is not an abnormal flight maneuver and can occur nearly every day in the National Airspace System,’ the airline’s statement added.
‘It’s a tool in both the pilot’s and air traffic controller’s toolbox to help maintain safe and efficient flight operations, and any assertion that flight 2246’s canceled approach was more than that is inaccurate.’
A passenger jet has aborted a landing at Reagan National Airport in DC to avoid a collision – weeks after the deadly crash which killed 65 people at the same airport (stock image)
Less than two hours later, another flight in Chicago was also forced to delay landing in near-identical scenes at Midway International Airport in the Illinois city.
A Southwest Boeing 737-8H4 plane almost collided with a private jet as it approached Chicago’s Midway International airport around 9.50am on Tuesday.
The flight took off from Omaha, Nebraska. Terrifying footage showed the moment it aborted its landing to avoid a Flexjet aircraft which had entered its path.
The Southwest pilot performed a quick go-around after briefly touching down on the runway in order to avoid the catastrophe.
The Flexjet plane, a Bombardier Challenger 3500, had been heading to Knoxville, Tennessee, before the near collision.
No one was injured in the incident and the Southwest plane landed safety in Chicago after the incident.
The close calls came just days after two planes shockingly collided in midair at Arizona’s Marana Airport last week, killing two.
The NTSB, which is investigating the collision, said that the two aircraft involved were a Cessna 172S and a Lancair 360 MK II, which collided while ‘upwind of runway 12,’ one of two runways at the small regional airport.
It comes after 67 people died after an American Airlines passenger plane collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington DC last month
The FAA said that Marana Regional Airport, which is located outside Tucson, is an uncontrolled airfield, meaning it does not have an operating air traffic control tower.
The incident also comes after a Delta plane almost collided with a private jet at Los Angeles airport in December.
The chartered Embraer E135 jet was carrying the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team, and had just landed from Spokane, Washington.
The jet was about to cross the runway when controllers noticed the Delta plane hurtling down the path and frantically told the Embraer to halt.
There have been four serious aviation incidents in North America just this year.
Sixty-seven people died after an American Airlines passenger plane collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington DC last month.
The victims included teen figure skaters returning from a national meet with their mothers and coaches, an Ohio college student coming from her grandfather’s funeral, two Chinese nationals and a group of hunters headed back from a guided trip in Kansas.