Three jets in ‘lack of separation’ incident at Ronald Reagan
Two regional jets taking off and one approaching Ronald Reagan Washington Airport were involved in an incident the FAA is calling "a loss of the required separation" between Chautauqua Airlines 3071 and Republic Airlines 3467 both departing from Runway 1 and a regional jet, Republic Airlines 3329, inbound for Runway 19. All three airlines are carriers for US Airways Express.
The Federal Aviation Administration says that the cause was "miscommunication" between a tower in Warrington, Va. and air traffic controls at Reagan.
In a statement on their website, the FAA explains that the narrowly missed disaster happened when the air traffic controller at Warrington (or Potomac TRACON) initiated a change in the traffic flow at Reagan due to bad weather. Reagan control had been landing and departing aircraft on Runway 1, from south to north. Due to bad weather, Warrington air traffic control reversed operations at the airport to land and depart from the north to the south on Runway 19.
The agency says that the loss of separation should not have occurred but that at no point were the three aircraft on a head to head course. Transportation secretary Ray LaHood said in a press conference today that media "mischaracterized the incident and did not present a full account of what happened."
He stressed that the DOT and the FAA were investigating the incident and that a "well-trained controller at DCA immediately recognized the situation and worked quickly to fix it." He also promised that both agencies would "get to the bottom of this."
US Airways Express, which uses both Chautauqua and Republic as regional carriers says there were a total of 192 passengers and crew on all three jets. No one was hurt.
Gretchen Kelly
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