Another plane almost crashed into a helicopter near Reagan airport, day before collision

Another plane heading to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport almost crashed into a helicopter on Tuesday night, the night before an American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and plunged into the Potomac River.

Republic Airways Flight 4514 was forced to abort its first landing attempt at the airport on Tuesday after Air Traffic Control warned that a helicopter was in its vicinity. The Embraer E-175 executed a go-around maneuver, and safely landed a few minutes later, CNN reported.

“There’s a helicopter over Georgetown northbound 300 feet,” the air traffic controller told the plane, according to audio from LiveATC.net.

The pilot confirmed the warning and was told to go around the helicopter and try to land again, which it did. The plane landed safely at 8:11 p.m.

The incident occurred the night before the American Airlines flight collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter. All 64 people on board the plane, and three people on the helicopter are presumed to be dead. One of the U.S. Army pilots killed has been identified as Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves.

CNN is also reporting that the two black boxes, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, from the American Airlines plane have been recovered, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Several members of the U.S. Figure Skating team were reportedly among the 60 passengers on the flight. Also onboard were Russian figure skaters, as well as other Russian nationals. There were also at least 14 figure skaters on the flight. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.