An American Airlines flight arriving at Ronald Reagan National Airport was forced to abort its landing to avoid another aircraft, officials said, less than a month after a midair collision killed 67 people near the same airport and roughly 90 minutes before a close call between a passenger plane and a private jet in Chicago.
Tuesday’s incidents came as officials are investigating a string of safety incidents in recent weeks, including the deadly midair collision over the Potomac River, a Medevac jet crash in Philadelphia and a regional airline crash off the coast of Nome, Alaska, that killed 10 people. And last week, a Delta plane crashed while landing in Toronto, flipping upside-down as a wing – engulfed in flames – broke away from the fuselage. All 80 people on board survived.
The Tuesday incident at the Washington, DC, airport happened around 8:20 a.m. as American Airlines Flight 2246, en route from Boston, was preparing to land, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Air traffic control instructed the American Airlines flight to perform a go-around to “ensure separation was maintained between this aircraft and a preceding departure from the same runway,” the FAA said.
A go-around is a routine maneuver that allows an aircraft to safely make an alternate landing “at the discretion of a pilot or at the request of an air traffic controller,” the FAA said.
The flight eventually landed safely, and Tuesday’s go-around was a standard maneuver “to allow another aircraft more time for takeoff,” American Airlines told CNN Wednesday in an email.
“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 airline’s email reads.
The closest Flight 2246 came laterally to the departing plane before Flight 2246 turned and climbed was about 1.25 miles, and its lowest altitude before its climb was 450 feet, according to FlightRadar 24.
Audio from LiveATC.net captured an air traffic controller instructing Flight 2246: “American 2246, just go around. Turn right heading at 250, climb maintain 3,000,” the controller said.
A passenger on the flight, Itai Vardi, said the experience was “terrifying” and left him feeling shaken. The wheels were down and the plane was close to the ground just before it pulled back up, Vardi said.
“We were over the Potomac River and I could see the runway right up ahead,” said Vardi, who was in a window seat on the plane. “Then suddenly, the plane turned upward in a sharp angle and accelerated and began to climb again.”
Other passengers seemed as confused as he was, Vardi said. “We were looking at each other like, ‘What the hell just happened?’”
About a minute later, a pilot announced the flight had to change its approach “out of an abundance of caution, as there were other planes heading into the area at the same time.
The plane circled before it landed at the airport, Vardi said. The plane landed at 8:31 a.m., according to data recorded by FlightRadar 24.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority directed questions to the airline.
Experts and lawmakers have raised concerns about the crowded airspace above the Washington region, with tight security measures in place, military and government helicopters regularly flying through and flights taking off at Reagan National Airport, which boasts the busiest runway in the country.
Plane aborts landing in Chicago
Less than 90 minutes later at another major US air travel hub – Chicago Midway International Airport – a Southwest Airlines flight was forced to abort its landing at the last minute Tuesday as a private jet crossed the runway it was approaching.
The Southwest flight was arriving from Omaha, Nebraska, and the private jet, a Bombardier Challenger 350, was headed to Knoxville, Tennessee, according to FlightRadar 24. Air traffic control instructed the private jet to hold short of the runway, but video shows it continued across as the Southwest flight touched down.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement on X, “It is imperative that pilots follow the instructions of air traffic controllers. If they do not, their licenses will be pulled.” Duffy said he would provide additional updates when they become available.
Flexjet, the company operating the Bombardier Challenger 350, is “aware of the occurrence” in Chicago and “was working to gather more information on this situation,” a spokesperson said in a statement. The private jet can seat up to nine passengers, according to configurations posted on Flexjet’s website.
The planes came as close as approximately 2,050 feet before the Southwest plane initiated the go-around, according to FlightRadar 24.
Between January 2023 and September 2024, the NTSB investigated 13 runway incursions involving commercial, or for-hire, flights. Those incursions varied, from some with “no immediate safety consequences” to “narrowly” avoiding a collision.
