The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into a frightening near-miss incident that occurred on Friday afternoon near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
A Delta Air Lines Airbus A319, operating as Flight 2983 and departing for Minneapolis, narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with a US Air Force T-38 military jet, raising fresh concerns over aviation safety in one of the country’s busiest and most restricted airspaces.
The FAA said in a statement:
"Delta Air Lines Flight 2983 was cleared for takeoff at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport around 3:15 p.m. local time on Friday, March 28, while four U.S. Air Force T-38 Talons were inbound to Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover. The Delta aircraft received an onboard alert that another aircraft was nearby. Air traffic controllers issued corrective instructions to both aircraft. The FAA will investigate."
Delta flight narrowly avoids mid-air crash
Delta 2983 was departing Reagan Airport around 15:15 local time for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) as a regularly scheduled flight.
According to USA TODAY, the Airbus A319’s onboard Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) issued a "resolution advisory" warning, signaling an urgent need for evasive action.
"On that departure … was there an actual aircraft about 500 ft below us as we came off of DCA," according to CNN, citing the audio captured by the website LiveATC.net, that the Delta pilot asked air traffic controllers.
"Delta 2983, affirmative," the Departure controller responds.
"Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people," a spokesperson for Delta Air Lines said to CNN.
"That's why the flight crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed."
Two pilots, three flight attendants, and 131 passengers were on board the plane, and the flight arrived as scheduled at Minneapolis at 16:40 local time, according to FlightAware data. The Airbus A319 aircraft with registration N342NB is 22.9 years old, Planespotters.net information shows.
According to FlightRadar.com air traffic data, one of the T-38 jets was 875 feet in the air, CBS said.
Lawmaker demands answers
The near-collision has already drawn sharp criticism from lawmakers, particularly from Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.
"My first call to Department of Defense tomorrow: why are your planes flying 500 feet below passenger jets full of Minnesotans headed from DCA to my state." Klobuchar said in a statement on Friday night.
NTSB warned of 'serious safety risk'
This alarming incident comes just two months after a deadly mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport, in which an American Airlines regional jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed on January 29, killing all 67 people aboard.
That crash was the first fatal passenger airline accident in the United States in 16 years and has since prompted renewed scrutiny of airspace management and military flight operations near the airport.
Following the tragedy, the FAA implemented tighter regulations on helicopter operations at DCA, excluding non-essential flights and limiting the distance between passenger and military aircraft.
The FAA's decisions followed urgent safety recommendations issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) following the crash.
More than 15,000 of these near-misses occurred between October 2021 and December 2024, according to the NTSB's preliminary study.
The NTSB report that detailed its urgent recommendations included data on the frequency of close calls between helicopters and commercial airplanes.
But Friday's near-miss raises the possibility that more steps are required. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier this month that the Transportation Department has "deployed AI tools" to help in locating more hotspots at airports around the nation with similar military and commercial cross-traffic. He said that effort began several weeks ago and has been used at 12 airports.
