A Delta Air Lines passenger plane experienced a close call with a U.S. Air Force jet shortly after takeoff from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday afternoon. The near-miss has raised fresh safety concerns about the congested airspace around the nation’s capital, especially following January’s deadly midair collision at the same airport.
At around 3:15 p.m. on Friday, March 29, Delta Flight 2983 had just taken off from Reagan National Airport bound for Minneapolis when its onboard collision detection system suddenly activated. The Airbus A319, carrying 131 passengers, two pilots, and three flight attendants, received an alert indicating that another aircraft was dangerously close.
Flight tracking data showed that one of four U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon jets en route to Arlington National Cemetery for a ceremonial flyover was flying at an altitude of just 875 feet in the vicinity of the passenger plane.
CBS News reports that in radio communications captured after the incident, one of the Delta pilots can be heard asking air traffic controllers, “Was there an actual aircraft about 500 feet below us as we came off DCA?” The controller responded with a simple, “Delta 2983, affirmative.”
Safety Measures Activated After Delta Plane Narrowly Avoids Air Force Jet
When the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) alerted the Delta crew, air traffic controllers immediately issued “corrective instructions” to both aircraft, directing them to adjust their flight paths to maintain safe separation. The safety system is designed to help prevent midair collisions by instructing aircraft to climb or descend when they come too close to each other.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. “That’s why the flight crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed.”
The incident quickly drew political attention. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, where the flight was headed, expressed outrage on social media. “My first call to Department of Defense tomorrow: why are your planes flying 500 feet below passenger jets full of Minnesotans headed from DCA to my state,” she wrote on X, calling the situation “unbelievably dangerous.”
This close call comes two months after the devastating collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near the same airport on January 29, which killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft — the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster since 2001.
