Passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight from the DC area to Minneapolis had quite the close call on Friday: NBC News reports that Flight 2983, which had 136 people on board, took off around 3pm local time from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and just avoided a collision with an Air Force T-38 jet. CNN notes that the aircraft were so close together that cockpit alarms in the Delta plane started going off.
Tracking data cited by CNN showed an Air Force T-38 jet zipping past the Delta Airbus A319 at more than 350mph, at 800 feet. "On that departure ... was there an actual aircraft about 500 feet below us as we came off of [the airport]?" the Delta plane's pilot can be heard asking air traffic control, according to audio on the LiveATC website. "Affirmative," the ATC staffer replies. The Delta pilot also noted that their flight had received a "resolution advisory" warning in the cockpit.
CBS News notes it's not clear just how close the two aircraft got to each other. There were no reported injuries from the incident, and per FlightAware, the Delta flight arrived just 10 minutes late, at around 5:45pm ET, in Minneapolis. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar called the incident "unbelievably dangerous," per Reuters. "My first call to [the] Department of Defense tomorrow: Why are your planes flying 500 feet below passenger jets full of Minnesotans?"
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The FAA, which is investigating the incident, says the T-38 jet was one of four headed to Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover. NBC notes this is the latest in "an unusual streak of aircraft crashes and mishaps since the beginning of the year," including the January crash of an American Airlines plane with an Army chopper over the Potomac River, which left 67 dead. (More Delta Air Lines stories.)
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