ARLINGTON, Va. — United Airlines said that a kite may have hit one of its planes that was landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The airline said that the kite hit United Flight 654, which was en route from Houston on Saturday afternoon.

The plane was not damaged and the flight landed without an issue.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department said that a person was flying the kite at Gravelly Point, which is prohibited. Police confiscated the kite because it was flying in restricted airspace.

“Kite-flying is prohibited at Gravelly Point due to low-flying aircraft landing at DCA,” police said.

The area is just north of the main runway. Travel analyst Jamie Larounis was at the park at the time and said 10 or more kites were in the air. He said he saw the kite hit the plane and called airport police.

Larounis said the kite hit between the plane’s engine and fuselage.

Some believe that while they believe that the kite was flying in an area it should not have been, it didn’t come in contact with the plane.

“If the kite had actually made contact with the airplane, we would know it,” commercial pilot and instructor Captain Robert Katz said. “The kite would have been destroyed and possibly the airplane as well, although not likely.”

On a recording from air traffic control, a controller can be heard saying, “You were telling me those details about the kite, whether it was over the Park? How high was it?”

The pilot saw the kite and told the tower, “It was over the park about 100 feet over the ground, it looked like it was right on the flight deck. Those guys were a little bit low ...”

Eyewitness, Dylan Oakes, a producer for WUSA and who was at Gravelly Point said, “There was a kite that looked a little higher than it should be, we thought it might just be a perspective thing from where we were standing but, lo and behold, as the plane got a little bit closer, it came into contact with the kite.”

Air traffic control also warned an American Airlines flight that was landing about two kites flying in the same area.

“Use caution for a kite ... reported around 100 feet ... We’ve got a report, it appears that it’s two of them. One is like a bright yellow one,” controllers warned.

When police arrived, he said they interviewed a family of two adults and a child.

Police returned the kite to the family shortly after and no charges were filed, law enforcement officials said.

This was the latest in a series of incidents at Reagan National Airport.

In January, an Army Blackhawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight moments before landing, killing 67 people on board the plane and helicopter.

On Friday, a Delta Air Lines flight had a near miss with a T-38 Air Force jet near Reagan Airport.

The Talons were going to conduct a flyover at Arlington National Cemetery when the Delta flight received an “onboard alert” that another jet was nearby. Air traffic controllers gave both the Delta pilots and those from the Air Force corrective instructions.

The National Transportation Safety Board said they are aware of the incident but has not launched an investigation.

The NTSB said there were 85 near misses between planes and helicopters at Reagan Airport from 2011 through 2024, or about once a month on average.

About 25 million passengers travel through Reagan Airport each year. It was built to handle 15 million, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

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