The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating another near miss at Reagan National Airport.
The Wednesday morning incident, reported by NBC 4, follows the April 18 incident in which two airliners nearly collided on the ground.
“In the latest scare, an American Airlines plane, which was headed to Boston, reached speeds of about 100 miles an hour when air traffic controllers ordered the pilot to stop,” NBC 4 reported. “An air traffic controller canceled the takeoff of American Airlines flight 2134 because another aircraft was cleared to land on an intersecting runway about 10:30 a.m., the FAA said.”
Arlington’s congressional delegation is weighing in on the latest incident, after unsuccessfully trying to block legislation that will add five new daily, long-haul round-trip flights at National Airport. The provision was approved by Congress on May 15.
“We’re deeply relieved that no one was injured after two planes nearly collided at DCA on Wednesday morning, but this incident is further evidence that the airport is severely overburdened and at capacity,” Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said in a joint statement. “It shows why the Senate’s decision to jam even more flights onto the busiest runway in America as part of the FAA reauthorization bill — a move we fought against for months — was so dangerous and reckless.”
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said in a social media post that “our colleagues’ decision to ignore our warnings and increase traffic at DCA will increase the danger.”
We warned Congress repeatedly about the safety risks of putting more traffic on DCA’s congested runways.
I’m grateful no one was hurt here, but this could have been much worse.
Our colleagues’ decision to ignore our warnings and increase traffic at DCA will increase the danger. https://t.co/w6uhgZK1Km
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) May 30, 2024
