NTSB investigating close call between planes at Reagan National Airport

The Nationwide Transportation Security Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating a close call between two planes final week at Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport in Virginia, the most recent in a string of comparable such incidents on U.S. airport runways this 12 months.

On March 7, at round 8:30 a.m. EST, a Republic Airways Flight 4736 — working as American Eagle Flight No. 4736 and sure for Raleigh, North Carolina — taxied throughout a runway {that a} United Airways Flight No. 2003, an Airbus A319 sure for Chicago, had simply been cleared to take off from, the NTSB instructed CBS Information.

“They did didn’t cross the runway on the time, but it surely got here shut,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy instructed CBS Information Wednesday.

Homendy instructed CBS Information that it appeared each planes got directions by completely different air visitors controllers that might have put them on a collision course, earlier than the pilots of United Flight No. 2003 have been instructed to abort their take off. 

Preliminary data reviewed by the NTSB signifies floor controllers gave the Republic flight permission to taxi throughout the runway that controllers within the DCA Tower have been clearing for the United flight to make use of for takeoff.

“The United flight didn’t take off,” Homendy stated. “They, the tower, aborted it in a short time. So it did not finish as much as be a runway incursion, but it surely may simply, simply have been one.”

However a preliminary overview from the FAA provided a barely completely different account than that of the NTSB. The FAA, in a press release obtained by CBS Information, discovered that the Republic flight had been cleared to cross a distinct runway, however as a substitute turned on the unsuitable taxiway. 

“In accordance with a preliminary overview, Republic Airways Flight 4736 crossed Runway 1 with out clearance, placing the plane within the path of United Airways Flight 2003, which had simply been cleared for takeoff,” the company stated in a press release. “An air visitors controller seen the state of affairs and instantly canceled the takeoff clearance for the United flight.”

The FAA’s investigation will decide how shut the 2 aircrafts received to one another through the incident. 

The disclosure of this occasion comes sooner or later earlier than the FAA convenes a security summit with members of the aviation trade to debate current related shut calls: 

• On Jan. 18, two planes bumped into one another at John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport in New York. 
• On Jan. 23, at Daniel Ok. Inouye Worldwide Airport in Honolulu, a United Airways airplane crossed a runway whereas a personal Cessna airplane was touchdown. 

— Kris Van Cleave contributed to this report.