"As we're on the runway going super-fast, as you normally are for takeoff, that's when it went super loud. Boom," Christine Buff, a passenger on Flight 2301 to Denver, said.

The skies around Washington are often crowded with commercial flights, military planes, helicopters and other aircraft.

Southwest Airlines confirmed the pilot had been removed from duty and apologized to customers whose travel plans were disrupted.

Authorities have switched to a recovery mission in the Potomac River following a midair collision between an American Eagle ...