Two planes almost collided on the runway at D.C.’s Reagan Airport (DCA) after air traffic controllers appeared to nearly direct them into each other Thursday morning.
“An air traffic controller instructed Southwest Airlines Flight 2937 to cross Runway 4 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport while JetBlue Flight 1554 was starting its takeoff roll on the same runway,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller.
“The event happened on Thursday, April 18, around 7:41 a.m. local time. The FAA will investigate,” the statement concluded.
DCA Ground Control originally instructed Southwest Flight 2937 to give way to an American Airlines Airbus. (RELATED: Major Airport Crowned ‘UFO Hotspot’ After Countless Strange Sightings)
The air traffic controller then cleared JetBlue Flight 1554 for takeoff.
JetBlue acknowledged the clearance. “Cleared for takeoff runway four, Jetblue 1554,” the pilot relays in a video Gregg Re posted to Twitter.
The planes then begin moving toward each other, Re’s video shows.
southwest + jetblue planes nearly collided on the runway at Reagan airport in DC today
ATC directed the southwest plane to cross a runway where the Jetblue plane was already cleared to takeoff
listen to the screams in the tower
video credit: @VASAviation pic.twitter.com/RDdiwLUNl2
— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) April 18, 2024
“Tell Southwest to stop!” the Jet Blue pilot exclaimed.
“JetBlue 1554, STOP!” the ground tower shouted.
“Southwest, Stop! Southwest 2937, Stop!” ground control continued shouting.
“We stopped, we were cleared to cross runway four,” the Southwest pilot relayed.
“We’re stopping,” Jet Blue said.
The Southwest flight was “about 60 meters past the hold short line, coming as close as about 20 meters to the runway edge,” according to Re’s video.
Seven minutes after the incident occurred Axios tweeted a story, which the FAA reposted, with the caption: “The FAA is looking to hire a new batch of air traffic controllers.”
The FAA is looking to hire a new batch of air traffic controllers.
It doesn’t require a degree — which may appeal to the many young Americans turning to trade and vocational work instead of college. https://t.co/TezLm7kMcQ
— Axios (@axios) April 18, 2024
The Daily Caller asked the FAA if their decision to repost the tweet was related to the incident but did not hear back on the question before the time of publication.