An American Airlines flight landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Tuesday was forced to abort its landing to avoid hitting another plane taking off on the same runway.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that the incident happened at around 8:20 a.m. EST.
“An air traffic controller instructed American Flight 2246 to perform a go-around at Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) Airport to ensure separation was maintained between this aircraft and a preceding departure from the same runway,” the statement said.
The FAA said that a “go-around” maneuver is a “safe, routine maneuver performed at the discretion of a pilot or at the request of an air traffic controller.”
The maneuver aborts a landing and returns the aircraft to a position where it can make another approach to land.
“American has a no-fault go-around policy as a go-around is not an abnormal flight maneuver and can occur nearly every day in the National Airspace System,” American Airlines said in a statement. “It’s a tool in both the pilot’s and air traffic controller’s toolbox to help maintain safe and efficient flight operations, and any assertion that flight 2246’s canceled approach was more than that is inaccurate.”
The incident comes after a Southwest Airlines flight had a very close call on Tuesday morning at Chicago Midway International Airport.
Southwest Flight 2504 was touching down on the tarmac when a private jet taking off pulled out in front of the plane. The Southwest flight was forced to initiate a go-around, immediately taking off again to avoid a collision.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the incident, officials said.
“We don’t believe that this was an air traffic control issue,” TSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told Fox News. “It appears this was a failure of the flight crew from Flexjet to listen and abide by the instructions of air traffic control.”
