Another flight arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was forced to abort landing due to helicopter traffic just 24 hours before the tragic midair crash between an American Airlines plane and a Black Hawk chopper, according to a report.
Republic Airways Flight 4514, from Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, had to make a second approach at Reagan National on Tuesday — after a helicopter appeared near the plane’s flight path, the Washington Post reported.
The circuitous approach can be seen on radar images available on FlightAware.com.
That plane was able to land safely — and even touched down thirteen minutes early, according to the site.
The next night, American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan. was readying to land at the same airport, just across the Potomac River from Washington, when it collided with a military helicopter shortly before 9 p.m.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the American Airlines jet’s collision with a military helicopter in DC
All 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the jet were killed, along with three soldiers aboard the Army UH-60 Black Hawk in the deadliest air disaster in the US since 2001.
Air traffic controllers warned the military helicopter it was getting close to the plane before the fiery collision about 400 feet above the icy river, according to radio transmissions.
Follow the NYP’s coverage of the deadly DC plane collision
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- Air traffic controller’s reaction to DC collision revealed in chilling audio: ‘Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three’
- DC chopper, plane crash live updates: No survivors expected after AA flight collides with military helicopter in deadliest US crash since 2009
- Timeline of air traffic controllers issuing warnings before American Airlines plane, Black Hawk helicopter collision in DC
- Trump says collision between American Airlines jet and Army helicopter ‘looks like it should have been prevented’
It was revealed Thursday that one air traffic controller was doing the job of two staffers at the time of the crash – coordinating arriving and departing flights from the Reagan airport and directing helicopter traffic.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that it was “too early to tell” whether human or mechanical error was at fault for the disaster.
Investigators with the agency recovered the black boxes from the American Airlines plane on Thursday night and will review the contents.