An American Airlines flight from Boston aborted its landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, Tuesday to avoid a plane departing from the same runway.
“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 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
American Airlines said the flight landed “safely and normally” and described the move as standard operation to give the plane more time for the other plane to take off.
“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,” the airline said in its 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 airline continued.
“There was nothing gradual about it. It felt like the pilot had to make an emergency maneuver,” Itai Vardi, a passenger on the flight told the New York Times about the incident.
The nation has refocused its attention on airline safety after a deadly plane crash involving a Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.
A Southwest Airlines plane had to abort its landing in Chicago after a close call at Midway International Airport.
CBS News wrote, “Video showed Flight 2504 from Omaha was about to land when a private business jet began taxiing across the runway. The Southwest plane immediately started climbing and flew 250 feet over the private jet, according to preliminary flight data.”
Southwest said its crew performed a “precautionary go-around to avoid a possible conflict with another aircraft that entered the runway.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
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