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Passenger flight and Air Force jet diverted from potential collision at DC airport

The air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is pictured.

A U.S. passenger flight preparing to leave the nation’s capital and an incoming military jet received instructions to divert and prevent a possible collision, officials said.

The flight left its gate at 2:55 p.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Minneapolis-St. Paul at 4:36 p.m. local time before the flight crew followed the diversion instructions from the controllers, the airline said.

The Air Force’s website describes the T-38 Talon as “a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer” used by different departments and agencies, including NASA, for various roles including pilot training.

The incident comes just two months after a midair collision above the same airport killed 67 people. The Jan. 29 crash between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter was the deadliest U.S. plane crash in more than two decades. Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River, killing everyone aboard.

Delta Air Lines Flight 2983 was cleared for takeoff at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday around 3:15 p.m., the same time four U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon aircraft were inbound, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

The jets were heading for a flyover of Arlington National Cemetery when the Delta aircraft received an onboard alert of a nearby aircraft. Air traffic controllers “issued corrective instructions to both aircraft,” according to the FAA, which intends to investigate.

According to a recording of air traffic control communications, Delta’s pilot asked, “Was there an actual aircraft about 500 ft below us as we came off of DCA?”