FAA probing reported near-collision of 3 US Airways jets near Washington National

(CBS News) WASHINGTON - US Airways is working with federal officials to investigate an incident that saw three commuter jets narrowly avoid a midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just outside the nation's capital.

The Washington Post first reported that three US Airways jets carrying 192 passengers and crew members came within seconds of a midair collision, citing federal officials with direct knowledge of the incident.

CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports that just after 2 p.m. Tuesday, a regional jet was approaching the airport from the south.

A storm caused the wind to shift and, for safety, air traffic controllers turned departing planes around - to take off toward the south.

The inbound flight should have been routed past the airport - to land behind the departures from the north, but that wasn't communicated to the pilot - who approached the airport heading straight into departing traffic.

At about the same time, two more planes took off. The first came within a mile-and-a-half - about 12 seconds given the speed at which the aircraft were traveling - of the inbound plane. The second was just a mile further back.

The planes all reached their destinations safely, but the incident comes less than a year-and-a-half after a traffic controller in the FAA tower at Washington National admitted to falling asleep on the job, leaving two commercial jets to land without any assistance.

The FAA is investigating the incident, which CBS News aviation analyst Mark Rosenker says, "clearly was a violation of the procedures. The minimums were broken."

Rosenker says the FAA will be "looking into this very carefully to understand exactly what happened and... how this could've been a miscommunication that created this terrible situation."

US Airways confirmed to Orr that the airline is cooperating with the FAA's investigation.

An audio recording of the conversations between the US Airways pilots involved and the ground controllers, provided by LiveATC.net, does reveal several moments of confusion among the flight controllers on the ground.

After the incoming pilot is told to make a 180-degree turn away from the landing he had been cleared for at National, he asks the controllers, "We were cleared at the river back there. What happened?"

"Standby, we're trying to figure this out, too. Standby," comes the response, before he is told to circle around for another landing attempt.

Speaking moments later to another pilot - who tried to contact ground control during the confusion to no avail - a flight controller is heard explaining, "We had an issue earlier, so that's why you weren't getting a response."

Orr says the incident on Wednesday shows a very serious breakdown in communications among the flight controllers. "This was not a disaster," he told "CBS This Morning" co-host Charlie Rose, "but only because, in the end, a controller paying attention, finally, and a pilot, did all the right things in the right moment."

[rbrianwright2]

"...a pilot, did all the right things in the right moment." Do you mean the inbound pilot? the one who was quoted as saying to ATC, "We really don't have enough fuel here for this. We have to get on the ground pretty quick."? THAT pilot? Did he REALLY fly that aircraft with so litte fuel that he was concerned about a fly around at DCA? or, was he declaring an emergency situation to ATC that did not exist? Hey, it was one or the other. In any event, that man should be suspended, reprimanded and coached (if he is coachable).

[nygurl1]

I love when you armchair pilots make assumptions with no proof.

[marine1957]

I applaud all the controller personnel and pilots in the air for being on the alert and pulling everyone out of this momentary confusion caused by the weather storm's sudden wind change.
Hindsight is always better than foresight and everyone can learn from this difficult experience.
At the same time, aircraft take-off distances extend dramatically when in a downwind condition and need to be totally avoided.
To put everyone on the ground on a temporary hold while redirecting those in the air only, seems to be what is to be learned as correct protocol for the future in a problem like this.
Life is not always easy for any of us, no mater what our profession.

[nygurl1]

Another armchair expert.

[bradkt1]

When you change the direction of departures from an airport, that is a decision made by the tower at the airport. Decisions regarding approaches to the airport are made by a separate air traffic control facility known as a TRACON (terminal radar approach control facility). This sounds like a breakdown of communications between the two different facilities (the tower and the TRACON). There had to have been a protocol that was ignored or forgotten.

This is extremely serious, given the speed at which jets travel. They can close the distance on each other in seconds. If this kind of thing keeps up, sooner or later a controller is not going to catch something like this in time and we are going to have a disaster.

[scprosecutor]

I was on a commuter plane to Detroit on July 19 when our take off was aborted when another plane was landing at the same time we had started powering up for take off.

[mecury69]

It's time to automate air traffic control. It's growing beyond the ability of people to manage properly.

[matt6052]

The weather was a problem mid-day yesterday. I looked outside at one point and it was raining. A few minutes later the sun was shining bright. There was a serious thunderstorm moving through the area that was not associated with a large band of storms like we often get in the late afternoon. That's unusual.

[rjack61]

What's your point? Were you looking outside of the airport while all of this was going on? I'm missing something here in your comment.

[nohater]

somebody needs to be dismissed.

[johnlockesghost]

They should have delayed the two taking off (Southbound) until the Northbound plane landed. Somebody forgot about it.

[mjones1212]

Correct. As long as those two remained on the ground, they posed no danger.