WASHINGTON — Flight collision warnings rang out on a Delta flight carrying 137 people during a close call with a U.S. Air Force jet Friday afternoon just after taking off at Reagan National Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Friday night.
Only a few hundred feet separated the two aircraft while flying south of DCA at around 3:15 p.m., according to air traffic control audio obtained from LiveATC.net and flight data from Flightradar24.com.
“Was there an actual aircraft about 500 feet below us?,” a Delta pilot can be heard asking air traffic control.
“Affirmative,” an air traffic controller responds.
Delta Flight 2983 had been departing out of DCA for Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota on Friday afternoon, with a scheduled arrival of 4:36.
The U.S. Air Force confirmed to WUSA9 that four T-38 aircraft had been in the area for a flyover at Arlington National Cemetery. Those jets took off from and landed at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia Friday afternoon.
The FAA saying Friday night that they would investigate why the aircraft were so close.
“The Delta aircraft received an onboard alert that another aircraft was nearby. Air traffic controllers issued corrective instructions to both aircraft,” the FAA posted to their website Friday. “The FAA will investigate.”
Friday afternoon’s close call happened over the Potomac River not far from the site of the midair collision in January that killed 67 people.
There were 131 passengers on Friday’s Delta flight aboard an Airbus A319, along with three flight attendants and two pilots. The flight arrived safely in Minnesota Friday afternoon.
A spokesperson for Delta said that Flight 2983 had followed all protocols during its Friday afternoon flight.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people,” Delta said in a statement. “That’s why the flight crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed.”
On Thursday, Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau confirmed during a Senate hearing that a flurry of false mid-air collision alerts had disrupted flights at DCA earlier this month were caused by drone testing.