The Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate a close call that occurred between the Delta Line flight and the US Air Force jet near Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday.
The incident killed 67 people in the first fatal crash of a US passenger airline in 16 years following an airborne crash near the same airport, including a US Army helicopter on January 29th.
A series of troubling near-miss incidents over the past two years raised concerns about the safety of US aviation and the burden of understaffed air traffic control operations.
On Friday, the Delta Flight 2389, an Airbus A319 heading to Minneapolis, was cleared for takeoff around 3:15pm (1915 GMT), and four U.S. Air Force T-38 Talons were inbound to nearby Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover.
DeltaJet said the controller issued corrective instructions to both aircraft after receiving a collision warning in the cockpit that another aircraft was nearby.
Minnesota's representative Sen. Amy Klobuchar said the incident was “incredibly dangerous and I would like to thank God's people. My first call to the Department of Defense tomorrow: Why is your plane flying 500 feet (150 meters) under a passenger jet full of Minnesotans?”
The Pentagon said it was aware of reports on Friday's incident but did not immediately comment.
Delta, who said it had five crew members and 131 passengers, said it had “followed the procedures to pilot the aircraft as directed. We will work with regulators and air stakeholders on reviewing this flight.”
CNN reported that Delta pilots asked the controller if “there is an actual aircraft under us about 500 feet below us,” citing audio captured by the website liveatc.net. The controller responded “positive,” CNN said.
The January collision raised doubts about the failure to use a major safety system called the ADS-B on his helicopter training flight.
The FAA has since imposed permanent restrictions on non-essential helicopter operations around Reagan, banning helicopters and passenger jets from flying towards each other.
The FAA's actions followed two emergency safety recommendations made by the National Road Safety Commission following the crash.
Last month, Southwest Airlines' Luv.n flight was less than 200 feet of the business jet when Southwest pilots canceled landings and carried out emergency operations to narrowly avoid a crash at Chicago Midway Airport.
On March 1, more than 12 flights in the final approach to Reagan National received false cockpit crash warnings, prompting at least six people to abort landings.
The FAA and the senators said it was spurred by government testing of counter-drone technology.
Disclaimer: The opinions, comments, opinions, contributions and statements by readers and contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policies of Multimedia Group Limited.
