A United Airlines flight from Houston appeared to have struck a kite while landing at Washington Reagan National Airport on Saturday.
The pilots reported the kite flying over Gravelly Point, a park just off the runway along the banks of the Potomac River on the Virginia side, according to Air Traffic Control audio. Flying kites there is prohibited because of its proximity to landing aircraft.
“It was over the park, about 100 feet over the ground, it looks like it’s right on the flight path,” pilots said.
Flight 654, a Boeing 737, landed safely with 126 passengers and five crew on board around 4 p.m. EDT, according to United.
Dylan Oates/WUSA9
“There was a kite that looked a little higher than it should be, we thought it might just be a perspective thing from where we were standing but, lo and behold, as the plane got a little bit closer, it came into contact with the kite,” a producer at the D.C. news station and former flight attendant, Dylan Oakes, said.
Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority Police responded to the park and confiscated a kite, WUSA9 reported.
“Airports Authority police officers responded to reports of kite-flying at Gravely Point today, an activity which is not allowed in that area due to the danger to low-flying aircraft,” Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said in a statement.
No charges were filed and officers returned the kite to its owner, a spokesperson for Reagan National said in a statement.
The incident comes about 24 hours after a Delta flight received a collision avoidance alert due to the close proximity of a military aircraft and follows a series of concerning close calls that surfaced after a midair collision killed 67 at the D.C. airport in January.
Since the deadly crash between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight, the National Transportation Safety Board made a number of recommendations to address a “serious safety risk” at Reagan National, including banning helicopter operations along the route near the airport when runways 15 and 33 are in use.
