On April 18, 2024, a near miss occurred at Washington National (Ronald Reagan) Airport. An Embraer 190 operated by Jetblue and a Boeing 737-Max-8 operated by Southwest Airlines were affected. According to initial findings, there may have been incorrect instructions from the pilots.

The Jetblue E190 was scheduled to fly from Washington National to Boston-Logan. At 7:40 a.m. local time, the pilots received the appropriate clearance from air traffic control to take off on Runway 4. However, the pilots of the Southwest B737 Max 8 were given permission to cross this runway immediately beforehand. It is still completely unclear how this oversight could have occurred.

In any case, a controller recognized the potentially extremely dangerous mishap and warned the pilots of both machines via radio. The Embraer 190 had already begun the acceleration process. The takeoff of the Jetblue regional jet was then immediately aborted, which was also confirmed via a radio message. The Southwest plane was also stopped, but its captain announced over the radio that they had received clearance to cross Runway 4.

The US Civil Aviation Administration wrote in an initial statement: "An air traffic controller directed Southwest Airlines Flight 2937 to cross Runway 4 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport while JetBlue Flight 1554 began its takeoff procedure on the same runway."

Both carriers said their respective pilots followed air traffic control instructions. For safety reasons, they stopped immediately because of the warning and brought the aircraft to a standstill so that a theoretically possible collision could be prevented. The companies will now cooperate with the FAA to clarify the causes of the incident.

After the near miss, both Jetblue's Embraer 190 and Southwest Airlines' Boeing 737-Max-8 took off to their destinations and were able to reach them safely. Similar near-misses have been increasing in recent months, particularly in the United States of America. There are also always unpleasant acquaintances while rolling.