Mistake in control tower causes near miss

Three commuter jets came within seconds of a midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after confused air traffic controllers launched two outbound flights directly at another plane coming in to land.
The three planes, all operated by US Airways, carried 192 passengers and crew members, the airline said.
All of the flights reached their destinations without mishap, but the near miss on Tuesday was another among several thousand recorded errors by air traffic controllers nationwide in recent years.
(Photos by Brendan Hoffman/Getty)