There was another close call at Washington National Airport (DCA) on Wednesday after an American Airlines A319 was ordered to abort takeoff in order to avoid crashing into a landing private aircraft.
Another Near-Miss At DCA: American Airlines A319 Slams On Brakes To Avoid Hitting Another Jet
Last month, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 and JetBlue Embraer E190 near collided at DCA:
In that incident, the two aircraft were ordered to stop and came to a halt just 400 feet apart.
On Wednesday, May 29, 2024 another incident occurred, this one involving an American Airlines Airbus A319 (registration number N812AW) operating as American Airlines Flight 2134 to Boston (BOS) and a King Air private turboprop aircraft.
The AA A319 had spooled up for takeoff and reached speeds of 100 miles per hour before ATC noticed that the King Air plane had landed on an intersecting runway:
ATC Tower: “American 2134 cancel takeoff clearance. [inaudible] zero, alpha, alpha, go around, go around.”
American: “Rejecting the takeoff 2134.”
King Air: “Zero alpha alpha, cannot go around, we are already on the ground.”
ATC Tower: “American 2134 do you want to go back to the gate?”
American: “We need to talk to maintenance, but yeah, I think we were above 80 knots so we’re going to have to get an inspection.”
Because it had reached high speeds, the American Airlines plane had to return to the gate, where maintenance crews spent several hours inspecting the aircraft. The flight finally took off 2:35 pm, 4.5 hours after the scheduled departure.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating.
American Airlines added:
“The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, and we’re grateful to our crew for their professionalism. We will support the FAA in its investigation.”
CONCLUSION
Another near-miss incident occurred at DCA yesterday, this time between an American Airlines A319 and a small private plane. Thankfully, no one was hurt, though this could have turned out far differently had the American Airlines pilots not slammed on the brakes in time.
image: Charles / Flickr
King Air is not a “private jet” its a twin turboprop.
That is technically correct, but the reference was made to give people a perspective of the size of the aircraft involved in the incident – a “twin turboprop” would confuse many people.
“Private turboprop” won’t confuse intelligent readers or even merely average people.
Speaking of intelligence and professional writing, slams on “breaks,” really?? What’s going on in the LALF newsroom, is it take your kid to work day?
You ought to look up your childhood English teachers and apologize to each one of them.
I do wish to apologize Miss Skinner, who taught me better.
It’s not a near miss, it’s a near hit meaning they ALMOST HIT each other. Makes sense, no?
@Lukas … +1 . Perceptive reader .
“Near miss” is shorthand for “NEARly hit but did luckily MISS”
@Jim … If you nearly hit , then you miss . Baseball = strike .
If you nearly missed , then you hit . Baseball = hit .
Lukas, you’ve said that before, but that is just not true.
For better or for worse, near miss has come to mean a narrowly avoided collision or other accident.
From the perspective of an English teacher, you may be right, but many words and phrases have morphed from their original meanings (like impressed and incredible come to mind).
@Matthew … How about : “narrowly avoided a collision” ? This circumstance was the origin of the song title : “My Heart Stood Still”.
We always search for expressions that better describe certain things, such as transgender as opposed to transsexual etc. Going from near-miss to near-hit is a no-brainer for me but I guess I won’t win this war until more people think about the nonsensical nature of the two words in a context where two planes avoid collision.
@Lukas … +1 . near hit = narrowly avoided a collision . ( Not narrowly avoided a miss ) .
Near miss is the term the FAA and NTSB use. Do you make up your own words for auto parts and use them when you take your car to a mechanic?
@JimC … Yes .
We continue to have these incidents and they keep getting closer. Every time it happens we get that much closer to finally lining up all the holes in the proverbial Swiss cheese.
ATC cannot continue to make these mistakes. Sooner or later if they do we will have a catastrophic event.
I so agree.
Many decades ago as a student pilot I was cleared to land on runway 1 at DCA only to see a 727 (I think Trump Air?) waiting at the threshold. We of course did a go around but it’s ironic to note that things apparently haven’t changed.
Things have been quite stable. ATC has done a remarkable job with the limited space. I am a bit troubled by recent events.
Simple solution, really, Ban all general aviation (private planes) from major airports, or charge them an exorbitant fee to land there. The rich can build their own airports or simply take the bus.