the newspaper reported that air traffic controllers cleared two outbound flights to head in the direction of an incoming plane .
the planes all reached their destinations safely .
as a result , an incoming flight that had been cleared to land was flying head - on at two planes that had just taken off .
the washington post is reporting ( http : wapo.stm4sgoo ) that three us airways jets carrying 192 passengers and crew members came within seconds of a midair collision on tuesday afternoon .
three commuter jets came within seconds of a midair collision at reagan national airport on tuesday after confused air traffic controllers launched two outbound flights directly at another plane coming in to land , according to federal officials with direct knowledge of the incident .
the three planes , all operated by us airways , carried 192 passengers and crew members , the airline said .
the problem tuesday occurred about 2 p.m. as a number of inbound planes were queued up to turn above mount vernon , fly north over the potomac river and land on national ’s main runway .
 
us airways said late wednesday that it is working with federal officials to investigate a newspaper report that three commuter jets narrowly averted a midair collision near ronald reagan washington national airport outside the nation 's capital .