A military jet was a hair away from smashing into a Delta flight carrying 136 people, just months after a deadly DC crash at the same airport. Back in January, 67 people died after a military helicopter collided with a flight landing.
Both incidents happened near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The flight was taking off from the airport, flying over the Potomac River. That's when four Northrop T38 Talon jets did a flyover in the area. The Delta flight and military jet crossed paths just seconds apart. They were close enough to trigger onboard alerts on the Delta flight.
"On that departure ... was there an actual aircraft about 500 ft below us as we came off of DCA," the commercial pilots asked air traffic controllers, CNN reported.
"Affirmative," a controller responded. Following the near miss with the military jet, a spokesperson spoke out.
"Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people," a Delta spokesperson said. "That's why the flight crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed."
Delta Flight Nearly Crashes
There were 131 passengers and several crew members on board. US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) plans to question and investigate the matter, highlighting the congestion of the space. "Unbelievably dangerous and thank God people are safe," Klobuchar wrote on X. Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what happened with the Delta flight.
This comes after a crash at the airport killed 67 people. A report surfaced following that crashing, revealing thousand of near flight crashes.
