Three commuter jets came closer than permitted by federal regulations over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Tuesday, but did not have the near miss described in a news account, according to top officials.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood strongly denied Thursday’s report in the Washington Post that claimed the aircraft “came within seconds of a midair collision” over the airport. “News reports have mischaracterized the incident,” LaHood said. “At no point were these planes on a head-to-head collision course.”
The episode happened shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday. One plane was landing at National at about the time two others were taking off. All three were operated by US Airways.
Commercial aircraft are supposed to stay within 3.5 “lateral” miles from each other. Federal officials conceded the aircraft got too close. One departing plane got within slightly less than a mile of the landing plane, and the other was about two and a half miles away, officials said.
That was the result of a “miscommunication” between the radar approach control manager and two air traffic controllers in the Reagan National tower, officials said.
“We will get to the bottom of this,” LaHood promised, “and we will take all appropriate action to prevent similar miscommunication in the future.”
Michael Huerta, the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, said the mistake related to changing the direction from which the planes were taking off and landing due to bad weather developing south of the airport.
But Huerta also emphasized, “At no point were the three aircraft on a head-to-head course. They were not on a collision course.” He noted that all the aircraft had collision-avoidance systems that were not activated, as would happen in a near miss.
LaHood said a thorough investigation into the episode, including interviews of all the pilots and controllers, had been launched.
He praised the reaction of an air traffic controller at Reagan who “immediately recognized the situation and worked quickly to fix it.”
All the planes, carrying a total of about 190 passengers, landed safely at their destinations — one at Reagan, another in Kansas City, Mo., and the third in Columbus, Ohio.
