Two passenger planes were forced to shift course Thursday in order to avoid an Army helicopter flying in the area where they were set to land.

The incident comes months after an Army helicopter collided with a passenger plane as it attempted to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, killing 67 people.

Politico reported Friday that Chris Senn, the Federal Aviation Administration assistant administrator for government and industry affairs, emailed that an Army Black Hawk helicopter “took a scenic route around the Pentagon versus proceeding directly from the west to the heliport,” prompting orders for two commercial airplanes to go around rather than land.

The flights, Delta flight 1671 and Republic flight 5825, were given the direction around 2:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, according to CNN. A report on the incident said the Republic flight came as close as “0.4 miles and 200 feet” from the helicopter, CNN reported, citing an FAA report that was shared with members of Congress.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed the incident in a post on X Friday, calling it “unacceptable.”

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), leaders of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, both released statements of concern about the incident. Cantwell said the incident involved a helicopter from the same Army Aviation brigade as the one that crashed into the passenger plane in January.

Cantwell said it’s “outrageous” a Black Hawk again flew too close to passenger jets, and Cruz argued “the Army is once again putting the traveling public at risk.”

“Thank God there was a decisive response from air traffic controllers and pilots, or else these two close calls could have resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives,” Cruz said in a post on X. “I believe it’s time for the FAA to act swiftly and assert control over the national airspace so the Army stops running air taxis for military officials near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.”

An Army spokesperson told NBC the incident is under investigation. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are both investigating.

In March, the NTSB proposed a ban on some helicopter flights in the area of Ronald Reagan National Airport, arguing the amount of flights and closeness of flight paths “poses an intolerable risk to aviation safety.”