Tragedy almost struck on Friday, March 28, as a Delta Airlines plane narrowly avoided a collision with an Air Force jet at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Just two months before, while preparing to land at the very same airport, an American Airlines passenger plane collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter, resulting in the deaths of 67 people.
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As reported by CNN, Delta Airlines flight 2983, which carried a total of 136 people on board, was departing from Ronald Reagan Airport at around 3:15 p.m., heading to Minneapolis.
At the very same time, an Air Force T-38 jet flew past the Delta plane. It was heading to Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. Furthermore, the FAA issued a statement saying that a total of four Air Force T-38s were heading to Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover. The aforementioned T-38 jet was one of them.
Close Call
Shortly after Delta Flight 2983 departed, both it and the T-38 received onboard alerts and corrective instructions from air traffic controllers. As per CNN, reporting on audio captured by LiveATC.net, the Delta pilot asked air traffic controllers about the close call.
"On that departure," the Delta pilot said, "was there an actual aircraft about 500 ft below us as we came off of DCA?". An air traffic controller responded, "Delta 2983, affirmative." The pilot went on to note that they had received a "resolution advisory" from the aircraft's Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System. As the name implies, the cockpit system instructs pilots on what maneuvers to take to avoid possible collisions
Following the incident, Delta Airlines issued a statement via one of its spokespersons, Morgan Durrant.
"Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people," Durrant said. "That's why the flight crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed."
The incident took place one day before the two-month anniversary of the tragic American Airlines collision with a Black Hawk helicopter on January 29. The collision took place as the American Airlines flight was set to land at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. As a result of the crash, a total of 67 people were killed. The collision occurred over the Potomac River, in a spot close to the one where the Delta Airlines plane almost collided with the T-38 jet.
