ABC News - Three US Airways Express planes, carrying a total of 192 passengers and
crew members, were reportedly taking off or landing at Washington's
Reagan National Airport when they came within 12 seconds of a mid-air
collision.
The incident occurred Tuesday at about 2 p.m. when air traffic
controllers put two departing commuter jets alarmingly closer to a third
plane that was set to land, according to The Washington Post. All the flights reached their destination without mishap.
The FAA confirmed overnight the near-miss to ABC News, stating, "The FAA
is investigating the incident and will take appropriate action to
address the miscommunication."
US Airways released a statement, saying, "We are currently investigating
and working with the FAA to determine what occurred. The safety of our
customers and employees is always our top priority."
Neither the FAA nor US Airways would provide additional information.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement today that
it will "investigate the air-traffic-control incident at Reagan National
Airport on July 31. It will involve review of communications recordings
and radar data, as well as interviews with supervisors and controllers
at DCA and Potomac TRACON over the next few days."
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said safety is its top
priority. "We are always looking to enhance the safety and efficiency of
the National Airspace System, and we will participate in any
investigation that looks into improving the system," the controllers'
union said in a statement.
With a storm approaching, air traffic controllers in Warrenton, Va.,
told the tower at Reagan National they were changing the direction in
which planes were flying into and out of the airport to avoid shifting
winds, according to the Post. Warrenton controllers communicated the
plan to the tower at Reagan National.
"The tower agreed, but they didn't pass it on to all the people they
needed to pass it on to," a federal official told the newspaper.
The official was familiar with the incident, but was not authorized to speak publicly.
With the information not passed off, two planes experienced a loss of
separation with another flight that was landing. Controllers turned the
inbound flight south, just 12 seconds from impact with the other planes,
the Post reported.
"Are you with me?" an air traffic control official at Reagan National was heard asking the pilot of the inbound flight.
"We were cleared at the river there, what happened?" the pilot asked.
"Stand by, we're trying to figure this out," the tower replied.
"We really don't have enough fuel here for this. We have to get on the ground pretty quick," the pilot said.
In 2011, an air traffic control person at Reagan National fell asleep on
the job and failed to respond to pilots trying to land at the airport, according to The Washington Post.
"We will always have human error," ABC News aviation analyst John Nance
said, "but the air traffic control doesn't have money to build a
high-tech system to alert folks when errors are made."
