This year was unfortunately packed with airplane crashes leaving people dead in its wake and there would have been an extra crash to add to the list but the crisis was averted.
While it was a close call, it left the pilot and the passengers with a massive scare, and the scare was documented in a haunting audio transcript.
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It was near Reagan National Airport
A Delta Air Lines aircraft with 137 passengers onboard was this close to colliding with a US Air Force jet close to Reagan National Airport.
The crash would have taken place near where the American Airlines flight collided with the military helicopter on January 29 of this year, where all 67 passengers on the plane tragically died.
Alarms went off as they were dangerously close
The Delta Airlines plane took off from Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota. Things took a bloodcurdling turn as alarms went off in the cockpit, revealing an aircraft flying dangerously close to the commercial airline.
The pilot was in shock
The pilot was caught asking on LiveATC.net, an air traffic control chatter: “Was there an actual aircraft about 500 feet below us?” To which an air traffic controller responded with: “Affirmative.”
The US Air Force jet had taken off a few minutes before the Delta Airlines aircraft at speeds of over 350mph, according to FlightRadar 24.
Minnesota senator took to X
While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) explained that the US Air Force jet had been deployed for a flyover at Arlington National Cemetery, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar couldn’t fathom what happened.
She took to X (formerly Twitter) to weigh in on this close call.
It was “unbelievably dangerous”
“Unbelievably dangerous and thank God people are safe. 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.
The FAA issued a statement
“The Delta aircraft received an onboard alert that another aircraft was nearby. Air traffic controllers issued corrective instructions to both aircraft,” said the FAA in a statement on Friday, March 28.
The aviation industry is under close eyes
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), There have been over 15,000 “near-miss events” between October 2021 and December 2024.
In addition, there have been 153 US civil aviation accidents in 2025, with 23 of them involving fatalities. Therefore, it is no wonder why the aviation industry is being closely monitored nowadays.
