Flight to Boston avoids runway collision at Reagan National Airport – NBC Boston

Passengers on an American Airlines flight to Boston were forced to land after nearly colliding with another plane.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently investigating what led to the avoided collision.

Two incidents at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, involved planes bound for Boston that had to abort their takeoff.

The first incident occurred on April 18. An air traffic controller at Reagan Airport instructed a Southwest Airlines plane to cross a runway while a JetBlue plane bound for Boston was taking off from the same runway.

The JetBlue flight aborted takeoff, there was no collision and no one was injured.

On Wednesday, air traffic controllers cleared an American Airlines flight bound for Boston to take off at 10:30 a.m., while a smaller King Air plane was given permission to land on a cross runway.

Passengers described the frightening moments when the planes collided on the tarmac during de-icing. No one was injured. Follow NBC10 Boston on… Instagram: instagram.com/nbc10boston TikTok: tiktok.com/@nbc10boston Facebook: facebook.com/NBC10Boston X: twitter.com/NBC10Boston

The American Airlines plane had reached a speed of around 160 kilometers per hour when air traffic controllers asked the pilot to abort takeoff.

“American 2134, cancel takeoff clearance! Zero, Alpha, Alpha, go ahead, go ahead!”

“Aborted takeoff, 21:34.”

“Zero, Alpha, Alpha can’t turn around, we were already on the ground.”

“American 2134, would you like to return to the gate?”

“Yes, we need to talk to maintenance, but yes, I think we were over 80 knots, so we need to get an inspection done.”

The FAA is investigating the incident and said in a statement: “An air traffic controller revoked takeoff clearance for American Airlines Flight 2134 because another aircraft had been cleared to land on an intersecting runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.”

“The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority and we are grateful to our crew for their professionalism. We will assist the FAA in its investigation,” an American Airlines spokesperson said.

The FAA stated after the first incident that air traffic controllers were at high risk of fatigue due to scheduling problems and staff shortages. However, it is unclear whether this played a role in both incidents.