Senator Warner is asking the head of the Federal Aviation Administration for a full accounting of a potentially catastrophic “near miss” incident earlier this week at Northern Virginia’s Reagan Washington Airport. Two commuter planes reportedly took off from a runway at the same time another plane was approaching from the opposite direction – an incident that federal aviation officials have blamed on a “communication lapse.”

Yesterday, Senator Warner and House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. John Mica (R-FL) called on the FAA to thoroughly review the incident and issue a public explanation. Both lawmakers say there’s been an alarming rise in dangerous airport incidents, and they blame outdated air traffic technology that is badly in need of an upgrade. They spoke with WTOP Radio’s Dave McConnell about it in this report: