ADelta Airlines plane with 136 people on board narrowly avoided a huge catastrophe as it almost collided with a military plane on Friday afternoon, in a loss of separation incident that occurred just outside the same Washington D.C. airport where a mid-air crash claimed the lives of 67 people in January.
Delta Airlines flight 2983 took off from Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport at 2:55 p.m. local time and was cleared for takeoff to Minneapolis-St. Paul at around 3:15 p.m., The Post reported.
As the commercial aircraft headed south over the Potomac River, a group of four Northrop T38 Talon aircraft headed west to Arlington National Cemetery to fly over the site.
Another air disaster narrowly avoided in the capital
The Airbus A319 and a military aircraft crossed paths seconds apart, prompting an alert to be activated on board Delta's flight deck.
"On that departure... was there actually an aircraft about 500 feet below us when we departed DCA?" the commercial pilots asked air traffic controllers, CNN reported, citing audio from LiveATC.net.
"Affirmative," replied a controller.
The alert received in Delta's flight deck is called a "resolution advisory" and warns pilots to perform maneuvers to avoid dangerous flight paths.
The alert system is part of the aircraft's Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System, the outlet reported.
"Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and employees," a Delta spokesperson said. "That's why the crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed."
The plane bound for Minnesota was carrying 131 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots.
The Air Force aircraft has capacity for two military personnel.
The US Department of Defense is asked for explanations
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) said she plans to question the Department of Defense about why military aircraft were flying 500 feet below commercial aircraft in active airspace.
"Incredibly dangerous, and thank God people are safe," Klobuchar wrote on X.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would investigate the incident.
The incident on Friday occurred a day before the two-month anniversary of the tragedy of American Airlines Flight 5342 near the same airport.
On January 29, the American Airlines-operated regional Bombardier CRJ700 was approaching runway 33 at Reagan National Airport after arriving from Wichita, Kansas, earlier that day.
As it was preparing to land, an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with the plane shortly before 9 p.m.
All 64 passengers and crew on board the American Airlines flight, as well as the three Army members traveling in the helicopter, died.
The accident called into question military flight routes due to the heavy traffic and limited airspace surrounding the country's capital.
After the deadly incident, the FAA imposed permanent restrictions on non-essential helicopter operations around Reagan and prohibited helicopters and passenger aircraft from flying close to each other, based on recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board.