Federal authorities will investigate a near collision on the ground at Reagan National Airport, ARLnow has learned.
The incident happened around 7:40 a.m. today (Thursday).
“An air traffic controller instructed Southwest Airlines Flight 2937 to cross Runway 4 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport while JetBlue Flight 1554 was starting its takeoff roll on the same runway,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a brief statement to ARLnow. “The FAA will investigate.”
The agency noted that the information was preliminary and subject to change.
Air traffic control radio traffic captured frantic transmissions from the tower telling both planes to stop, shortly before crossing paths. A video recreation of what happened, along with the radio traffic, was posted online today (below) by the YouTube account VASAviation.
The JetBlue flight ended up departing for Boston around 1:30 p.m., after being initially scheduled for a 7:35 a.m. departure, according to flight trackers. The Southwest flight, to Orlando, departed roughly on time.
Today’s incident follows another, in March 2023, when “a regional jet made a wrong turn… and crossed a runway at Reagan National Airport as a United Airlines flight was preparing to take off,” as reported by the Washington Post.
Hat tip to Michael Thomas. Video via VASAviation/YouTube.