The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating reports about recent flights into Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., receiving false alarms about midair collisions — about one month after an incident involving an American Airlines plane and Army helicopter that left 67 dead.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE on Tuesday, March 4, the FAA wrote: “Several flight crews inbound to Reagan Washington National Airport received onboard alerts Saturday [March 1] indicating another aircraft was nearby when no other aircraft were in the area. Some of the crews executed go-arounds as a result of the alerts.”
“The FAA is investigating why the alerts occurred,” concluded the agency’s statement.
According to CBS News, the false alarms appeared on the flights’ Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). The news outlet’s review of air traffic control audio found that at least 12 flight crews received the false alerts on Saturday, with three flights having to do go-arounds between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. local time.
“It’s been happening all morning. Let me know if you see anything. No one else has seen anything except for on the TCAS,” an air traffic controller could be heard saying, CNN reported.
“Yeah, we got a little something there,” the pilot answered shortly after. “It said on the TCAS that it was 600 feet above us. And we didn’t see anything.”
Another similar exchange occurred between another pilot and air traffic control that same day.
“Reporting traffic around our 11 o’clock. We got anything out here,” the pilot asked, per CNN.
“Negative… no known traffic between you and the field,” air traffic control responded.
According to the FAA, the TCAS is part of the Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS), which is a safety-enhancing system to reduce the chances of mid-air collisions between aircraft. ACS operates independently of ground-based air traffic control and “provides collision avoidance for a broad spectrum of aircraft types.”
Robert Sumwalt, a CBS News transportation safety analyst and a former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) noted that Saturday’s occurrence was out of the ordinary.
“I’ve never heard of something like this,” Sumwalt told CBS News. “Nuisance alerts, yes, they happen. But not like this where several planes have it at the same location.”
Saturday’s incidents comes in the wake of the Jan. 29 collision between an American Airlines regional passenger plane and a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter over the Potomac River as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the jet, which departed from Wichita, Kansas, according to a statement from American Airlines. The U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carried three soldiers.
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Officials noted there were no survivors and the NTSB has launched an investigation into the cause of the disaster.
In an email to PEOPLE on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which oversees Reagan National Airport, deferred to the FAA and the airlines for comment about Saturday’s incidents.
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