The Federal Aviation Administration said it is suspending a procedure at all U.S. airports that led to three jets getting too close to each other last week near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The FAA told the Associated Press that an ongoing investigation shows the mishap was caused by a miscommunication between air traffic controllers over reversing the flow of traffic to and from the runway. The traffic flow was being reversed due to bad weather.
The FAA said it will suspend all opposite-direction operations while it develops new procedures. There is no national, standard procedure for reversing traffic flow.
The change was made after the July 31 incident at Reagan National Airport involving three U.S. Airways commuter flights that got too close to one another. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating.
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