In recent weeks, four major air disasters have occurred in North America. An American Airlines plane arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport interrupted its landing and made a turn on instructions from an air traffic controller to avoid getting too close to another aircraft taking off from the same runway,

An American Airlines flight arriving at Ronald Reagan National Airport was forced to abort its landing to avoid another aircraft Tuesday, officials said, less than a month after a midair collision killed 67 people near the same airport and roughly 90 minutes before a close call between a passenger plane and a private jet in Chicago.