- The incident occurred around 10:30 a.m. this Wednesday.
- There were 100 passengers aboard the American Airlines flight bound for Boston.
- Audio shows the pilot of the small plane telling the tower that he has already landed
An American Airlines plane reportedly nearly crashed into a private plane on the runway at Reagan National Airport Wednesday morning.
The audio shows an air traffic controller canceling takeoff clearance for AA Flight 2134 when the King Air private plane was scheduled to land on an intersecting runway at 10:21 a.m. local time.
As the cancellation progresses, the pilot of the private plane, a Hawker Beechcraft, reveals that it is already on the ground in Arlington, Virginia. Regan National Airport is also known as DCA.
The American plane involved was an Airbus A319. There were more than 100 passengers on board.
The flight was headed to Boston and was cleared to land on Runway 1 and reached a speed of 80 knots, about 110 miles per hour, before being ordered to abandon takeoff.
King’s plane was cleared to land on runway 33.
The controller says, ‘American 2134 cancels takeoff clearance…zero alpha alpha turn around, turn around.’
The American Airlines pilot responds: ‘Rejecting takeoff 2134.’ The pilot of the King intervenes at that moment and says: ‘Zero alpha alpha, we can’t turn around, we’re already on the ground.’
Then the controller says, ‘American 2134, do you want to go back to the gate?’ The American pilot confirms that they have to talk to maintenance.
“I think we were above 80 knots, so we’ll have to do an inspection.”
Aviation expert Tom Kinton said the pilot of the American flight was “almost at the point of no return,” according to WCVB.
He added that the two planes were 1,300 feet apart at their closest point. “That would close very quickly if that American continued down the runway at that speed,” Kinton added.
The incident involved an American Airlines A319 similar to this one showing departure from Reagan National in January 2023.
The A319 had 100 passengers on board at the time of the near miss. The flight finally took off four hours late.
After the incident, the American Airlines plane returned to the gate, where maintenance crews conducted a routine inspection. It finally took off around 2:30 pm and landed safely at Boston’s Logan Airport.
Just a month ago, a similar incident occurred involving a JetBlue and Southwest plane when they nearly collided. The JetBlue plane at that event was also bound for Boston.
In response to this recent near-collision, American Airlines emphasized that safety is always its number one priority.
‘The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority and we are grateful to our team for their professionalism. “We will support the FAA in its investigation,” the airline said.
The FAA confirmed that the incident occurred and said an investigation is underway.
Democratic senator and former vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine used the incident to highlight a recent bill passed by Congress that would allow more flights to land at Reagan National.
“I am relieved that no one was hurt. But this incident again underscores that DCA is at capacity. This shows why the Senate’s action to block even more flights to DCA was so dangerous. The FAA must resist any new flight that compromises safety,” Kaine said.
Southwest Airlines recently applied to fly nonstop trips between DCA and Las Vegas. American made a similar request for a flight between DCA and San Antonio, Alaska did the same for a San Diego route, reports Aviation Week.